Her Blood Is Pure
by superbumblebee
Summary: She never wished for any of this. She never wanted it all to happen this way. And she can't help herself now. Strictly OC's in this story, rated M for strong language amoung various other things
1. An Encounter

**!!!READ FIRST PLEASE!!!**

**I am not J. K. Rowling, and I definitely don't own Harry Potter. (I'd be a billionare if I did) In this story I choose to use ALL of my own original characters, using the setting that Rowling has created in her books. Even though some, (Ex. Julius **_**Zabini**_**, Reggie **_**Parkinson**_**) are related to Rowlings characters (Blaise and Pansy), I choose to use nobody in the actual stories. The time setting is about ten years after the seventh book takes place. If you are not fond of OC stories, you probably won't have a taste for this one. However, I'd like it if you could make room in your heart for mine. :) Feel free to comment, or submit your criticism, but nothing to harsh, because I don't like harsh.** **This is my **_**first**_** fanfic, so be gentle. :)**

**Enjoy!**

An Encounter

A small, green fire crackled and danced in the fireplace of an large, dark, and very ornately decorated room. Despite the fire, however, the room was still uncomfortably chilly, due to being located deep in Hogwarts dungeons, however the students whom resided here didn't seem to mind. A detectable, yet subtle smell of leather wafted in the air of the dim room, which was enjoyable to the children who occupied the area. Two girls sat on opposite sides of a festive black couch with green and silver pillows that were adorned with an all too well known snake figurine. The couch was relatively close to the little fire, which provided the pair with some light, because the large books and sheets of parchment that lay in their laps clearly occupied their attention. They shared the company of a couple of other students in the Slytherin common room, some in armchairs having small discussions with the occasional laugh, and another group quietly huddled around a large dark cherry wood study table.

The silence was broken between them when the elder sister, Cassandra, leaned back on the armrest to stretch her long torso, and her layered, silky black hair draped over the armrest elegantly. "Really?" she stated out of the blue, looking over to her sister with a dull expression. "I can't believe you right now."

"What?" replied her sister, keeping her large, glittering black eyes glued to her textbook.

"How long we have been sitting here?" Cassandra whined, placing her face in her hands to add drama. "Rotting away slowly," she continued, "by wasting time staring at these ancient bindings of paper. I could be doing something so much more worth my time than this right now. Let's see, for example, Sergio and Xavier want to see me-"

"-Quit complaining, Cassa, for heavens sake." Valerie snapped. "It's not that bad. Cut the diva crap." She finally looked up at her whining older sister with a clearly irritated look. "Maybe if you didn't fail half your classes so miserably, and focused on other things than boys, I wouldn't be putting you through this pain."

Cassandra just laughed and raised her head from her palms again. Her model like contours to her face were highlighted by the green glow of the fire, and even more so when she grinned. "Whatever, I'm hungry, so I'm going to lunch. Come with me." she nearly demanded, swinging her legs off of the couch and standing up in a fluid, graceful motion.

Valerie rolled her eyes and shoved the books away from her. She tied her identically black hair up into a high ponytail with ease and stood. "I'm only coming along because I'm hungry to." she murmured, refusing to let it seem like she was obeying her sister.

Cassa and Valerie made their way out of the hole entrance to the common room and up the dungeons until they hit the main corridors heading to the great hall. The walked almost in equal pace, choosing not to hold conversation as their made their way down the various halls. Other students who dotted the halls occasionally glanced at the pair as they passed, but quickly turned away, almost like a taught habit.

Right as they were rounding a corner, Valerie bumped into someone suddenly, causing her to stagger backwards. It was so quick, and her immediate reaction caused her to shout, "Hey, watch it!" Afterwards, she looked to see who was clumsy enough not to look where they were heading, and who was stupid enough to dare to bump into Valerie Rinaldo.

Standing there was a very tall, slender boy of about 6'3. She noted freckles that dotted his high cheekbones, gelled brown hair, and attention-grabbing grayish-blue eyes. Valerie vaguely recognized this guy, but couldn't but a name to his face. The collision caused him to drop his book, which he immediately bent over to pick up.

"Well-" Cassa said in an expecting tone of voice, as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes . "-Don't you have manners?"

The boy just stood tall again, narrowed his eyes, and stared at Cassa like she had three heads. "Uh... Sorry?" he finally muttered, his expression confused.

"Wow that was terrible." Cassandra sneered, looking over his robes. His blue tie, accompanied with the patch on his robe that had a bird etched in, told her he was in Ravenclaw. "Say it like you mean it." she demanded, arms still crossed, giving him a chilling stare. "Or do you not know who you just crossed paths with?"

The bold boy just shrugged. "To tell you the truth I can't give less of a damn. I don't see what the big problem is." His defensive gray eyes flickered from the girl who was harassing him, to the smaller one he just bumped into, and back again.

Valerie was staring at him. For whatever reason she found the boy to be quite... intriguing. Maybe it was because she failed to put a name to someone at a school where she thought she had an idea who everyone was. And because of being lost in thought Valerie hadn't said one thing yet, and just continued to stand and stare with an emotionless expression. She knew she remembered him from somewhere...

Cassa snorted and grabbed Valerie's arm. "C'mon, Valerie. Apparently, this bloody idiot has no idea that he just crossed Rinaldo's. His disrespect won't be repaid kindly." she hissed as she pulled her sister abruptly out of the way.

Valerie just followed her sisters pull obediently, taking one last compulsive look over her shoulder at him. Really, he must have had some kind of nerve or bravery standing up to two members of one of Slytherins most famous and notorious families. Without batting an eye too. Most kids just do as Vinnie Jr., Augusto, Cassandra, Valerie, Joseph or Natalia Rinaldo command and get out of the way, because they know it never ends up well if they take the opposite plan of action. Usually it would result in public embarrassment/humiliation, a nasty jinx, emotional damage or a sick combination or the three.

It's all because of their families interesting bloodline and history. Their mother, formerly known as Salvia Bottsmith, now Salvia Rinaldo is the last living soul that has even a drop of the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself running through her veins, or so her family claims, according to a very old, battered, torn, and questionable family tree. Luckily, her branch of the family was one with less incest, (still existent, however) making her facial features actually quite elegant. This left the children also with notable, but faint blood from Slytherin, something that was highly rare as it was respected. Meanwhile, their father, Vincent Rinaldo, was rumored to be a loyal death eater in the days of the Dark Lord. Vincents brother, also known as Uncle Antonio to the children, was an actual cold blooded murderer employed by Lord Voldemort, but was eventually killed by a skilled wizard during the raging war about ten years back. Plus, his side of the family proved to be even more honorable still, because a couple of Vincent's ancestors had been a successful headmaster at Hogwarts, a world famous inventor, and a few respected professors, who were all the head of house for Slytherin during their time teaching at Hogwarts.

And that, just the tip of the iceberg, was what made the Rinaldos so feared and revered.

And to think, a random boy, taking all of this into consideration, was not swayed even in the least?

Odd.

Valerie stormed down the large and rather empty, echoing corridor, leaving her sister Cassa behind to mingle with her many "male friends". Her eyes were narrowed and her pace was quick, the sound of her hard footsteps bounced back at her, reminding her with every echo why she was upset. Now she became flustered about the boy who had just collided with her, and refused to even say a simple sorry. Valerie had no idea why the anger was hitting her now, and why exactly she let this slip so easily. She was now replaying the encounter in her head over and over, in the manner she would have preferred it to turn out. More along the lines of retorting with a, "Are you blind?", or "Where's your respect, you idiot?", versus just, "Hey, watch it!".

She just shook her head in irritation, her black ponytail bouncing wildly with the gesture. When she saw that guy again, whomever he was, it wasn't going to be as pretty as before. "The nerve of some people." she muttered under her breath. "Doesn't he know who I am? A Rinaldo deserves far more respect than that guy offered." To her, he seemed so nonchalant and ill-mannered he might have done that with nearly anyone, let alone one of the famous Rinaldo clan.

Her black eyes moved upwards, to see a rather tall deep skinned boy approaching her. His head was free of hair by choice, and his hazel eyes examined Valerie with bewilderment. As he got within earshot, he asked in a particularly smooth voice, "Wow Val, what's eating you?"

She sighed heavily and smiled at him. "Hey Julius... Umm... It's nothing I suppose. Some Ravenclaw kid nearly knocked me over and didn't apologize. I found it really unnerving." She explained, crossing her arms.

Julius Zabini tilted his head back a little, "Ohhh okay that explains it. Do you know who it was?" he inquired, looking only slightly interested in what could make Valerie so upset.

"No, that's just the problem! If I knew who he was I probably would have been able to get him back somehow. All I know is that he was very tall, had brown hair, and big, bug-like eyes." Valerie just shrugged. She knew his eyes weren't bug-like, they were actually quite pretty, but she would never admit to that and tried her hardest to make him seem as unappealing and weird as possible to Julius. "But anyway, what's up? Is there anything about the game tonight you wanted to tell me or something?"

Julius nodded, "That's actually exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Speak of the devil, we're playing Ravenclaw tonight. They have an absolutely incredible new seeker with a perfect record of snitches caught during all his scrimmages and matches. He's a sixth year, and its odd he didn't play the last few years. This is why I just wanted to inform you of the group meeting I've arranged after lunch." he paused to wave a two boys walking by with green patches on their robes. "I wanted to make sure we're ready for him. I have quite a few tactics I want to go over with our beaters, and maybe a few new plays for you guys." he finished, looking intently at her. "Although I do realize you are my co-captain and I value your plays as our best chaser just as equally as my own." She knew Julius took his role as captain of the team quite seriously. It was actually somewhat amusing to her, knowing that he eats, sleeps, and breathes for Quidditch.

Valerie smiled, "That's fine with me, I'll definitely show up..." she tilted her head a little in wonder, "-but who's the new seeker?"

"All I know is that his name is Joel Hampton. He's a new found talent and a very intimidating one at that. Neither Hufflepuff nor Gryffindor, each with impressive teams this year, have won against Ravenclaw yet because he's so good. This is so odd because usually Ravenclaw is dreadful." Julius said flatly. After another pause he confidently stated, "But he should be no problem to us."

Suddenly Valerie couldn't help but think of that boy she collided with today. She didn't know who Joel was... Or whoever that idiot was... Could it be that she had an encounter with the seeker before she ever had to play against him?

Julius blinked at her, his cheeks rising again to show even more confusion towards her uncharacteristic behavior. "Valerie?"

"Oh-yeah... Sorry well I'll see you then. Thanks Julius." she managed, before walking past him and towards the Great Hall. Her mind began to spin about the meeting after her lunch, and even more so the highly anticipated match a few hours later.


	2. The Faithful Game

The Faithful Game

With celebratory horns blaring, blue and green flags waving, and loads fans cheering, the clock was ticking for the Slytherins team to emerge out onto the Quidditch pitch. The whole team was dressed in the usual green and silver robes, standing at the mouth of a side entrance to the pitch, ready for the match with their brooms in hand.

Quincy Patton, a short clean cut boy, and Reggie Parkinson, a gangly boy with extremely curly chesnut hair stood next to Valerie, both discussing Ravenclaws very poor chasers in great detail. Valerie just tried to tune them out to the best of her ability. However much she didn't like them, she refused to talk about other teams in a rude manner because it might bite her back one day if they pull an upset.

Chester Hethroweton, a big-boned boy with squinty, beady eyes and Valerie's brother, Joseph Rinaldo, Slytherins beaters, were loudly discussing how they'd like to knock Joel Hampton off of his broomstick with such force that he wouldn't play for the whole season. Valerie looked at her brother and rolled her eyes. He stared back and her, his identical black eyes alive with anticipation and mischief. "C'mon Valerie don't take it like a pansy. And don't play softly on them out of pity." he teased, and him and Chester both shared an equally annoying laugh with each other.

Julius Zabini, the keeper, was standing in front of the whole team at the mouth of the stone hallway. His angular features were even more highlighted by the shadows of evening. It made him look even more intimidating than he was to people before. He was currently deep in thought.

And the last member of Slytherins Quidditch team, seeker Maggie Isaacs, a small tan girl with a blonde bobbed haircut was standing directly behind him, gazing out onto the field, getting her mind set ready for both the game and this out-of-sight challenge she had to face in the form of Ravenclaws newest seeker..

Finally the announcer, Owen Anderson, yelled quite excitedly into the intercom, "And here comes Slytheriiiin!"

Zabini mounted his broom and zoomed out into the air quickly, followed closely by Maggie and the rest of his team. Valerie flew towards the back of the pack, and began to listen to the sudden uproar of cheering and jeering coming from various sides of the observation towers. Everyone at Hogwarts had taken a side as to who they wanted to be the victor.

Slytherin did their usual flashy entrance, showing of maneuvering skills and loud cries of power from Chester and Joseph, until they were gestured to ground themselves for the opening of the match by the referee, Professor Yelm.

Valerie landed with ease with her team and stared over at Ravenclaw. Their keeper, Rachel Durko, a thin girl, with bouncy brown waves in her hair was easily recognized because she was the only keeper in the league who did not even closely compare to Zabini's skill. Chasers Kenadi Gleason, Rebbeca Bailey, and John McClellan all looked somewhat shaken by Valerie's presence and gaze. They all knew or her glorious reputation as the best solitary chaser Hogwarts has probably seen in years. Their massive beaters Ethan Spaid and Tiberius Truscello were giving off what appeared to be a forced tough demeanor, and finally her eyes met with the last of Ravenclaws team.

Gray eyes locked with her large black ones. His recognizable brown hair was tufted up with gel into a fo-hawk, and his olive skin shone in the setting sunlight. His gaze was cool, and almost chilling, and unbreakable. He towered over everyone aside Tiberius, and his build seemed rather slender but athletic.

It _was_ the guy who had upset Valerie earlier!

Valerie was almost shocked. Joel Hampton, the rumored incredible seeker, was strikingly interesting because he looked irresistible! His long, freckled face, defined jaw line, and large facial features were attractive to Valerie to say in the least. She watched as he smirked at her after their long stare, his eyes showing that he clearly remembered their encounter.

Valerie suddenly came back to reality and narrowed her eyes in disgust. In no way was it okay for her to find her opponent, and someone from another house at that, to be attractive. She averted her eyes in a clearly displeased manner, almost embarrassed at his presence and his effect on her.

Professor Yelm stood between both the teams with a large box at his feet. He was a rather young professor, and was the one who taught the first years how to fly. He looked through horn-rimmed spectacles from Julius to Rachel, and finally pointed at Zabini, "Slytherin, ready?!" A few members did a loud battle cry of some sort, but Julius himself just nodded. Yelm then looked at the group of students in blue. "Ravenclaw, ready?!" he shouted again, and Durko also nodded.

Yelm then kicked open the box, releasing two bludgers and of course, the golden snitch. He picked up the Quaffle and held it in one outstretched arm, "Players, mount your broomsticks!" Everyone followed the order with ease, intently paying attention to when he would say-

"Begin!" he shouted as he tossed the Quaffle into the air. Everyone shot off the ground in one movement, and the game officially started.

Valerie, of course, was the first to make it to the Quaffle. She scooped it out of the air and zoomed off towards the left side of the pitch. The air howled in her ears and her ponytail whipped at the back of her head. She was in hot pursuit of Rachel, who hadn't even made it to her station in front of the three goal posts yet. With a satisfied smirk, Valerie immediately raised her arm with her elbow slightly bent, and shot the Quaffle through the right goal post just as Rachel had spun around to defend.

"Already 10 points for Slytherin, courtesy of Valerie Rinaldo!" Owen bellowed. "What an amazing display of agility!"

Rachel, looking distinctly peeved, returned the Quaffle as far back into the feild as she could manage with a knock from the back of her broom.

Valerie took her time in turning around, because she heard the unplesant sound of an incoming bludger, and she quickly did a 360 rollover in the sky for it to fly over her. _Apparently, Tiberius Truscello is more concerned with players who don't have the damn Quaffle!_ Valerie thought to herself angrily.

The game moved quickly with Slytherin leading 60 to 10, with Valerie's name on four of the goals. Zabini had done a great job at the goal posts, but John McClellan somehow managed to get one past him. Ethan and Tiberius had failed at hitting a single Slytherin yet, while Joseph and Chester had already slammed poor Rebecca twice, and were now taking close aim for Joel who was following the snitch as it delicately made it's way quickly around the whole pitch. Maggie was flying behind him closely.

Valerie veered out of the center madness which was the center of the pitch. She knew Reggie had the Quaffle, and he was no good at passing, so she didn't want to waste her time and get bluntly shoved by anyone else. She turned her head and looked back and saw someone flying towards her, and she heard a what sounded like a bee fly under her for a split second. Suddenly, Joel came into clear vision, making a slight dive to go under Valerie and after to little bee like object. Not even a second after, Valerie noticed from her peripheral vision that Joseph had slung everything he had into knocking a deadly bludger aimed at Joel. Valerie, for some strange reason, sped up and went on the rise, steering slightly to the right, diagonal to Joel, unsure of her own maneuvering and her eyes widened as she heard the heavy ball get closer and closer. Faster she tried to fly, but the trap was set. It was unavoidable at that point. The bludger barreled into her, who had unfortunately obstructed it's path of it's target, with such force that it shattered her broom and carried her up in the air a few feet with it. She slid off the rising bludger, and immediately blacked out on her way down to earth.

She hit the ground without cushion. Her left leg was horribly snapped, as well as her left arm, and her shoulder was brutally dislocated into the wrong place, blood spewed from her mouth and began to spill out as onlookers cried out in horror.

"-and Joel Hampton has caught the snitch! Ravenclaw wins!" Owen cried in a triumphant voice. He paused as he noticed what had also just occurred on the playing field. "...What's this? It appears Valerie Rinaldo has been completely taken off her broom and knocked cold by a nasty bludger! Oh dear is she all right?!"

A mess of helpers and professors instantly flocked to where Valerie had landed. Professor Yelm, first on scene, was checking her wounds and vitals first, nealt down aside her and heaved her into his arms. "She needs to go to the hospital wing now!" he cried out. He took out his wand a quickly said, _"Ferula!"_ A mess of bandages from a small bag at his waist began to wrap themselves around Valerie's bloody limbs, providing the urgent but temporary care.

All the other players landed and looked on in shock. Ravenclaws short victory cry had been cut short. Julius had landed and ran over to the mob of people and forced his way to the center by violently shoving two people out of the way to help Valerie. The rest of Slytherin looked on, dumbfounded that their best chaser had just been obliterated by their own bludger. It was actually quite embarrassing.

When everyone else had safely landed, Maggie twisted to Joseph, her mouth taut, her eyes ablaze. "How could you have such bad aim that you'd hit your own sister, you fucking idiot?!" she snapped, getting close to his face. "You're a horrible beater!"

Joseph noted her intruding on his space and shoved her back a little too harshly. "Back off! I had a clear shot at Hampton! If Valerie hadn't gotten in the way, it would have been that revolting mudblood on the ground, broken, battered and bloody, and not her!" he fired back at Maggie, his voice was annoyingly shrill.

The Ravenclaw team, who were not too far away, were casually listening to what Joseph and Maggie were screaming about. "Take that back, Rinaldo!" Rachel Durko said furiously, eyes wide, and her voice shaking slightly due to anger, "-you have no right to talk about Joel like that!" It was clear to the Ravenclaw team why Joseph's bad talk about had upset Rachel so devastatingly. Many knew of the relationship their captain had with Joel currently, the two had been going out for almost a year now.

"Make me, scum!" he hissed at her, kicking dirt in her direction, "-it's not my fault that your team is tainted by a mudblood because of a seeker who has a little too much beginners luck! He's nothing!" Joseph continued, pointing directly at Joel. "Nothing! And so are you, you trashy little whore, for involving yourself with that sack of shit!" Joseph was known for his temper, especially on the muggle-born subject. He was a true traditionalist.

Joel tried to pretend like the barrage of insults didn't bother him in the least. He walked over to Rachel, who looked as though someone had just slapped her in the face, and put a hand on her shoulder to let her know it was alright. He then turned to looked at the group of people as they all urgently made their way to the castle. His expression was mixed with wonder, and what seemed to be a little of worry. He suddenly felt a strong pang of guilt, now realizing that really should have been him and not her.

Tiberius Truscello, who was infuriated, had had enough. He ran over to Joseph and shoved him so hard he fell to the dirt. "Fuck off, Rinaldo!" Chester instantly jumped towards Tiberius and took a swing at his face in protest, but Tiberius swung his head away and stepped back, because Kenadi Gleason was yanking him backwards insistently.

"Enough!" Rachel cried, her eyes beginning to well up. She stepped away from Joel, her lips trembling. "-if your c-captain was here he would not agree of everyone trying to - to start ridiculous fights!" she said nastily to the rest of the Slytherin team, her voice still shaking. "Let's go!"

And with that Ravenclaw turned and walked towards their end of the pitch. Tiberius and John turned around and both gave Slytherin the bird.

Joseph scrambled in the dirt from being shoved over and shot to his feet. He spat in their direction as they left. "Cowards!" he screeched. "You're going to get it mark my words!"

Maggie just rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't we be worried more about Valerie and not who on who's team isn't a pureblood?!" she said loudly, trying to talk over Josephs outraged babble.

Quincy sighed and nodded, "Yeah I think we should go visit her later on. They probably won't let us in right now..."

Reggie frowned and looked up in the sky and to the ground. "Estimating from where she fell she took a pretty nasty blow. Poor Val...."

Joseph, still infuriated, just stormed off the field followed by Chester, bellowing curses about the Ravenclaw team, Joel and Rachel in particular, without a care**.**


	3. The Visitor

The Visitor

_XXX_

Valerie began to open her eyes slowly in the hospital wing early the very next day. She lay in a twin size bed with metal railing on either side of her, her sheets whiter than fresh snow. She inhaled deeply, knowing all too well exactly where she was. The sun let in rays of sunlight that warmed her skin softly, a rather nice feeling. But it was short lived, because the more conscious she became, the more pain she felt swelling in her heavily wrapped up left leg and arm, and around her body in general. With a wince, she let out a small whimper and gripped the sheets feebly. Maybe she would have been better off if she was still asleep.

Trying to go back to sleep, she heard footsteps making their way down the long hospital wings walkway, the soft echoes in a sort of rhythm that she listened to until they were close enough for her to look at him or her without hurting her neck. She believed it must be Madam Beauvais, or perhaps an assistant nurse, but no, Valerie was completely and utterly wrong.

Her eyes widened. Standing there directly next to her bed, gazing down at the hurt Rinaldo girl, was Joel Hampton.

He had nothing with him, but just continued to look at her, locking eyes with her yet again. "Wow, your awake?" he said, his clear, deep voice seemed equally as rhythmic as his footsteps.

She looked up at his coffee colored hair, which shone in the beaming sunlight. The sun almost completely silhouetted him otherwise. Luckily, his towering figure blocked the rays so they wouldn't get in her eyes when she had to look at him.

Choosing not to reply, she just looked the other way, while biting her lip and closing her eyes. Maybe if she acted like she was falling asleep again it would-

"That's not going to make me go away."

"Then what will.....?" she croaked hoarsely, before quietly clearing her throat. "... Why the hell are you even here?"

Joel took a second to answer. He was shortly preoccupied, looking at the get well notes and gifts that already littered her bed stand. With a small smile he turned his attention back to her, shoving his hands in his pockets as he did so.

"Your kidding me aren't you? You know why." he said simply, laughing a bit.

_What the hell? Of course I don't know why you're here, you weirdo, I barely even know you! _The words echoed in Valerie's mind but she chose not to share them with him. Valerie attempted the best glare she could manage against Joel's soft gaze. "Um, no. I don't." she replied, trying to make her voice sound as annoyed as possible.

Joel paced away for a little, and began to pull over a nearby wooden chair. He turned it around and sat in it backwards, resting his arms on top of the back rest. This caused Valerie to roll her eyes.

"I mean, you took that-" He hesitated, sounding a little less confident now.

"I didn't take ANY kind of hit for you, Hampton." Valerie interrupted incredulously, trying to sit up to the best of her ability. She ignored the blasts of pain that erupted throughout her whole body, which had been painfully mended last night but was still healing. "The thought itself is ridiculous. What even makes you think that?"

"Alright... So... the great Quidditch queen Valerie Rinaldo just flies in front of bludgers all the sudden?" Joel responded slowly and calmly, looking at the ceiling curiously. "Wow I guess someone forgot to let me in on that one. That's odd."

"Get out!" The words came to her mouth instinctively. She felt her stomach feel like it was flipping as she did so, because she had to force her serious tone through her pain to sound legitimate.

Joel didn't budge. He watched her, his eyebrows moved into a worried position. "Why don't you lay back down, your arms are quivering-"

"Didn't you hear me? I meant what I said!"

"But Valerie-"

"When I see you leave - I will!" she seethed bitterly through grinded teeth, closing her eyes tightly.

Joel eye's looked troubled, and he almost instantly stood, turned, and left. His school robes wisped behind him from his speedy walk.

Valerie felt her arms give way and she collapsed onto the bed, letting out a cry of pain. Tears began to well up in her eyes, but it was only physical. _Why would Joel... of all people... come see me __**this **__early?_ She wondered to herself. _He's completely insane to think I took that bludger for him on purpose..._

_Is this some kind of dream?_

_XXX_

Two days later, Madam Beauvais let Valerie go from the Hospital Wing. It took lots of charms and disgusting potion remedies to mend her many broken bones and ribs, and internal bleeding, and Valerie's own accord for the healing of the many deep bruises that covered her body. It was still early in the school year though, which was good, because she wouldn't miss many other vital Quidditch games. She figured she may be the only hope for her team of ever hoping to defeat Ravenclaw...

She made her way down the corridors to the Great Hall, to enjoy what she knew was going to be a good breakfast with Julius, Maggie, Quincy, Reggie, and of course Raphael Settino, her long-time boyfriend of two and a half years. Her team looked excited and waved as Valerie approached the table with a big smile, and Raphael jumped out of his seat excitedly to hug her. They embraced tightly, and kissed lightly before taking their seats.

"I'm so glad you're in good health again, Valerie." Raphael said in his normal, husky voice. Everyone else around them at the table nodded in agreement. Raphael was about 5'9", not too tall, but he made up for it by being pretty built. His skin was pale, and his dark brown hair was combed back and sleek as usual. He had dark circles under his amber colored eyes, not from sleep deprivation or stress or anything, which was a common misconception. They were just genetic, Valerie supposed, and she actually kind of liked it on him.

Valerie smiled at him genuinely, the dimples in her cheeks making an appearance for the first time in a while. She grabbed a apple with her left hand while taking Raphael's rather cold hand in her right. "So, what did I miss?" she asked eagerly, before taking a bite. The only visitor she actually remembered coming in was that stupid Joel kid, but still that could have just been her dreaming. Everyone else who visited, like Raphael and her team mates, must have come in while she was sleeping, which she spent a majority of her time doing while she was in the Hospital Wing.

"We lost the game." Julius said after a drawn out sigh. "It was 160 to 70, Hampton caught the snitch right as you got knocked out." Valerie couldn't imagine how flustered her captain must have been about this.

"I kind of figured." Valerie replied softly, "I'm sorry-"

"-Don't apologize! It's not your fault!" Maggie cut Valerie off, smiling broadly. "It was your dumbass brother. If only he knew how to fucking aim right none of this shit would have ever happened." As Maggie finished her run of the mill sailor mouthed sentence, she glared down the Slytherin table at Joseph, Chester, and many of his other friends who were all laughing obnoxiously about something.

Valerie laughed and grinned back, "Thanks for the reassurance, Maggie."

Valerie listened as Quincy and Reggie blabbed to her about the little scuffle after the match, and then again when Julius began to list the consequences he would enforce if anyone on the team dared to act in such a way again. Valerie believed that generally most of her team rose above the Slytherin stereotype, sassy, rude, and downright mean. Except Joseph and Chester, of course, the blundering idiots who made them look bad and quite often caused them to lose respect among the rest of the school.

The conversation went on, until it was time for them all to head to their first class. All except Julius and Reggie, who were seventh years, had their free period first. Valerie stood, her hand still interlocked with Raphael's. They waved goodbye to Maggie and Quincy, who had Herbology, and eventually turned to each other.

"I'm still upset that we don't have any classes together this year." Valerie groaned, puffing her lips out into a child like pout, and Raphael laughed.

"I know, I know, me too." He stroked her hand softly with his thumb, and continued, "Don't you have Transfiguration next?"

"Yeah, which is good I guess. I love that class. Super good at it. What about you?"

"Magical History." He replied flatly, rolling his eyes. "I loathe it, I really do. Everyone does. You think they figure out why the amount of sleeping kids in that class out-numbers the ones who are barely awake."

Valerie giggled, "Yeah, boring is just Professor Dottileman's forte." She hugged Raphael one more time before stepping away. "I'll see you, then." she said lightly.

"See you." Raphael replied as he watched Valerie walk away.

Valerie was not too excited about leaving Raphael, but her day so far had been completely wonderful, and she hoped it would continue that way.


	4. Transfiguration Troubles

Transfiguration Troubles

XXX

Valerie made her way across the Transfiguration classroom, routinely dodging out of the way of other sixth years moving to their own seats. The class was noisy and almost completely filled, giving Valerie the clear signal that class was about to start. The whole classroom was filled with rectangular stone tables that only sat two people. Valerie was completely okay with the fact that she didn't have a partner at her table. Her teacher, Professor Vlamer, knew exactly how much of an excellent student Valerie was in the subject, and he often had her working alone do to the odd number of people in the class. And a partner for her, after all, would just be a hindrance.

Professor Vlamer, a heavy-set balding wizard with a curious looking monocle, flicked his wand and the old door at the back of the room shut immediately. "Well then, it's time to start I assume." He said happily, looking about his class. He apparently hoped that his chipper attitude would spread like a virus, and infect the bored looking students at the front two tables.

Valerie decided not to pay close attention to Professor Vlamer's words for once, and just as her mind began to drift to pleasant day-dreamy thoughts, when she heard a yell from the back of the room, "Professor Vlamer?"

Someone had just come in through the door in a hurry, nearly panting, holding a slip in their hand. Valerie's stomach turned and her face immediately twisted into a grimace.

_No way!_

Joel Hampton quickly paced down the middle aisle of class, and approached Professor Vlamer, who was standing behind his cluttered desk. He watched Joel with owl like eyes of curiosity.

"Ohhhh!" said Professor Vlamer at last, as he smiled a toothy grin two of his golden teeth actually glinted in the light. He looked Joel up and down and said, "You must be Mr. Hampton, the boy who transferred out of Professor Pebbles Transfiguration class and into mine! I know her class is absolutely packed, but unfortunately mine is not much better! Oh well, Mr. Hampton, I extend to you a warm welcome to my class! As you know I'm Professor Nikolas Vlamer." He paused and scanned the class with his eyes, and Valerie knew exactly what was about to happen-

"Before we begin, would you please take the empty seat next to Ms. Rinaldo, Mr. Hampton?" Professor Vlamer asked very politely, holding his hand palm-upwards in the direction where Valerie was sitting.

Valerie froze. She watched as Joel hesitantly turned around, knowing all to well who he had to sit by. Apparently, he hadn't seen her while he was rushing in, as expected, but when she saw his expression, it looked to be an odd mix between being surprised and slightly shaken.

Valerie's own expression hardened and her eyes instantly narrowed to slits. Joel, who thanked Professor Vlamer, then slowly made his way down from his desk, and obeyed the teachers order to take the seat next to her with no question. Valerie frowned, once again averting her eyes from him. She knew Joel had looked at her for a few seconds after he arrived at the table, and she finally let her guard down when she knew his attention was at the front of the class once more.

She couldn't understand a word of what Professor Vlamer was talking about. Her mind was whirling. Why? Why of all people?

After what felt like an hour to Valerie, but in reality was only about fifteen minutes, Professor Vlamer told everyone in the class to practice their classroom assignment for the day. Valerie hadn't even opened her textbook to the appropriate page she was so flustered. She practically hadn't moved an inch the whole time Joel had been sitting next to her-

"Get over it."

Valerie's harsh eyes darted immediately to Joel. He stared back, arms crossed, refusing to break eye contact first.

"Excuse me?" she shot loudly, and a few people turned around to look.

"I didn't stutter." Joel replied cooly, reaching out a long arm across the table. He took her book without permission, flipped it open with a bang to page 698, and shoved it back at her.

Valerie looked revolted. "_Who do you think you are?" _she spoke through her clenched teeth, still bearing down on him with her icy glare.

"Joel Hampton, the idiot mudblood who was unfortunate enough to get a seat next to a proud _Rinaldo_-" he was heavily mocking her, and he continued, "Now c'mon, lets get started." He didn't even bother to look at her that time, convinced he had proven his point well. He took out his wand and set it on the table, and studied the instructional text in the book for their assignment.

Valerie was shocked by his words, and his disregard for the harsh term he just used to describe himself. _Mudblood?! What the-I had no idea! _Valerie was about to open her mouth to argue further, but then stopped herself. There was no point. She couldn't move anywhere else, all the other seats were taken. She knew she couldn't ask Professor Vlamer to switch with someone because that seemed a little too whiny and pathetic. She glowered and forced herself to read the text. Once she was done, she slammed her book shut and took out her own wand.

They had to practice changing the forms of old quills into actual birds. Valerie was well aware that this task was not an easy one to everyone else, but it would be a breeze for her. She just hoped Joel had at least some skill in Transfiguration so he wouldn't make her look bad.

Professor Vlamer walked around the classroom, handing out old quills to everyone so they wouldn't have to use their own. He smiled as he made his way to Joel and Valerie.

"Well, well, Ms. Rinaldo, another opportunity to dazzle me yet again, hm?" He looked back and forth from them. "Maybe you can show Mr. Hampton your talent!"

Valerie smiled weakly at her professor and nodded. She gazed down at her quill and raised her wand. With precise flicks of her wrist, and intense concentration, the white quill spun and distorted until finally a tiny finch formed. It hopped around on the desk, tweeting, before batting it's little wings and taking off around the classroom.

"Well done, Ms. Rinaldo!" Professor Vlamer exclaimed, watching the bird whizz about. "A finch! How exciting!" He chuckled heartily and then turned his attention to Joel.

"Okay, Mr. Hampton, give it your best shot!"

Joel blinked twice and scratched his head, looking unsure, but then picked up his wand. He began to move his wand back and forth, watching his quill like it was about to run away. The quill appeared as though it began to boil and then melted into what looked like candle wax. Joel turned slightly red in embarrassment and Valerie smirked. Professor Vlamer furrowed his brow and cleared his throat. "Well, practice makes perfect, I suppose, keep at it, Mr. Hampton!"

After Professor Vlamer had left their table, silence fell upon the pair. Valerie still wore her smirk, and she glanced at Joel. He looked puzzled, as he began to read his text over again. Valerie found it all very amusing. She knew what was wrong, it was the way he moved his wrist. There was too much whish and not enough flick in his technique. She decided to keep this information to herself, though, because watching Joel screw up royally on multiple occasions should prove to be very entertaining.

He positioned yet another quill in front of him and exhaled. Valerie thought that if he looked at the damn quill any harder he would surely go cross eyed. He raised his wand, and once again began to slash his wand in the air. Valerie snorted at this. He looked like he was trying to hack a piece of meat in mid air.

And the results were even worse. The quill looked as though it compressed, and then it exploded, sending little bits of feather around the room.

Valerie, brushing feathers from her face, broke out into laughter. The rest of the class seemed to giggle at this too, and Joel flushed to a new shade of red Valerie was sure she never had seen before.

Joel dropped his wand on the table and propped his elbows up. He buried his face in his hands and murmured, "This sucks..."

"No... You just suck." Valerie corrected him promptly, her eyes were wild with amusement.

He dropped his hands and looked at her helplessly. She gave a wry grin and widened her eyes, shaking her head. "Oh, don't look at me. I can't seem to turn the pages of my own book. I don't have a clue what to do." her voice was high pitched and mocking, causing Joel to roll his eyes, but smile none the less. This immediately puzzled Valerie. She expected more of a rude or angered response to her taunting.

"Okay everyone, that's enough for today! Your homework is to practice this tedious transformation even more! Next class, I shall check you off to see if your work is satisfactory enough to deserve a passing grade!" Professor Vlamer called out over the bustling class. "You are dismissed!"

Valerie stood, and so did Joel. It hit her then that their grade would most likely be dependent on each other. If Joel displayed that poor skill in front of Professor Vlamer again tomorrow it would definitely reflect in Valerie's grades, which was not okay. She sighed. She had to help him. She was forced to. Valerie placed her book in her bag carefully, and as she did so, she calmly said, "I'll show you the proper wrist movements next time, before class starts. You better make sure you get here early."

She looked up to Joel after she had given her order. She watched him smile and simply say, "Alright." He walked away from her without another word.

The rest of Valerie's day went very well. Aside from her favorite class being tainted with an idiot, she had lots of fun on her first day back. Defense Against the Dark Arts was interesting, her and Quincy had a practice duel without shouting out the jinx's names. Quincy won without a shout over doubt, because Valerie just couldn't block silently for the life of her. Potions was even more fun. Valerie and one of her dorm mates, Leanna Porter, screwed around the whole class, laughing at random students and the teacher. They didn't take any of the assignment seriously. Their Professor didn't find any of it funny at all, and nearly slapped the pair with a detention. Astrology was incredible as usual. Even if her group was Demetri Casberg, the kind of shy, monotone Hufflepuff keeper, and Daniel Klein, a Gryffindor prefect, and celebrated editor of Hogwarts' relatively new newspaper. They always learned a lot together, and had a great time doing so.

Dinner was good, too. Her and Raphael discussed their day, and Valerie vented to him about Joel. Raphael seemed extremely displeased at this, more than Valerie would have imagined him to be, which was surprising. He was biting his lips and clenching his fists tightly, which was not a good sign at all. She changed the subject quickly and they shared a few stories and eventual laughs before departing to the Slytherin common room together, hand in hand as usual.

Raphael brought up Joel again once their were in the dim-lit common room. Valerie could see that telling Raphael of the encounters with Joel in the past was probably a mistake. It sincerely flustered him, which Valerie felt guilty about. The last thing she wanted was for Raphael to be stressed about something. She let him know time and time again that she wouldn't let it become too much of a problem, and if it did she gave Raphael the peace of mind that she would allow him to give Joel a lesson if it persisted. Raphael weakly smiled, they kissed, and separated into their dorms.

The next day Valerie went to Quidditch practice bright and early in the morning. For reasons that were beyond her, Julius loved to book the pitch as early as he could. Valerie just went along with it, she knew the pros outweighed the cons if it was Julius's decision. The practice went really well. The teamwork between Reggie, Quincy and Valerie was improving, and they were completing many more passes than before. Joseph and Chester had a little bit of target practice, as encouraged by Maggie, and they also did well. Julius was on his A game, blocking almost every goal attempt from the three chasers, and Maggie played beat-the-clock to try and catch the snitch in under 5 minutes.

After practice, the team changed and hurried to breakfast before their next classes began. Valerie simply took a piece of toast with her, and hurried off to Transfiguration, not even bothering to sit down.

Valerie munched on her toast as she walked into the door. Professor Vlamer was busy behind his desk with some paperwork she assumed. Her eyes moved to the only other person in the room.

Joel was leaning playfully back in his chair a little, like a child, staring up at the ceiling, his arms crossed again. When Valerie closed the door behind her, Joel turned around and watched her walk over to their table. He smiled at her, and didn't receive one in return.

"Funny. I thought you would get here before I did." he said, scooting forward a little to let Valerie take her seat next to him.

Valerie just rolled her eyes and took out her textbook. "We had a Quidditch practice, for your information. You might want to kiss your winning streak goodbye the next time you play Slytherin." she said, her tone grudgingly cool, and popped the last piece of toast in her mouth.

Joel just shrugged, unshaken. "We'll see, I guess."

Valerie chewed as she opened up to page 698. She pointed at her book and looked at Joel expectantly, who shook his head. She glared as Joel said, "I forgot it."

Valerie groaned and threw her hands in the air. "Well what the hell, Hampton?!." She pushed her book to the center of the table reluctantly. At least Joel had already grabbed a practice quill. "Let's get started." she said lazily, looking at the clock as he picked up his wand. "I noticed yesterday that you slashed your wand in the air, as if you were dueling, rather than flicking it. Make your wrist movements smaller, and twist it lightly as you do so. This should improve your outcome."

Joel nodded at her. "Alright, I'll try it." He stared at the quill again, and began to flick his wrist back and forth. Valerie noted that he still somewhat slashed the air, even if he was twisting his wrists correctly. She sighed as the quill bubbled into a pile of candle wax once again. This time, however, the blob of wax was covered in feathers. "Dammit." Joel muttered, frowning.

Valerie rolled her eyes yet again and scooted towards him. "Here, let me show you." she said, and she reached out both her hands and took his, intending on forcefully showing him the right maneuvering. She paused suddenly. His hand was pleasantly warm to her touch, very warm actually. _Wow, Raphael's hands are ice blocks compared to this_, she thought to herself. The corner of her mouth twitched upwards into a ghost of a grin as she said, "Your hands are really warm." The words spilled out of her mouth like involuntary word-vomit. She instantly snapped her hands back in horror. Valerie, shocked by her own words, looked slowly up to Joel.

He tilted his head a little, smiling, and chuckled. "You think so?"

"I-It was an observation... Not a compliment." She replied flatly, looking away from his eyes which were burning into her. She finally worked up the courage to meet his enticing gaze again. She shook her head, and reached her hands forward again. She took his, ignoring his thoroughly amused look, and began to guide his hand in the proper motions. "See?" she said, her voice cracking a little. "That's how you do it. Now try again." she instructed him, taking her own hands back into her lap.

Joel sighed, raising his eyebrows. "Let's see if I have any luck now, then." He raised his wand once more and began performing the correct maneuvers. The little quill shrunk into a bubbling mass, before slowly rising upward into a bird form. Once Joel was finished, a skinny crow was fully formed and standing on the table, cocking it's head every which way before taking flight.

Joel's gray eyes widened, and he pumped one victorious fist in the air, "Finally!" he said excitedly.

Valerie smirked and nodded. "Good job." she murmured softly, and Joel grinned broadly at her yet again. "Now that that's over, I can rely on you to do the same thing in front of Vlamer when class starts, right?"

"Yeah, sure." He stared up at the crow he had just successfully transfigured. "Damn, I never thought I could do it."

"You were right. You couldn't. You need my expertise." Valerie said sassily. She looked at the floating piece of chalk scribbling something down on the board at the front of the class. Valerie read it to be their class assignment for the day, which was book work. They were to get started on it after Vlamer had checked everyone's transfiguration off. She promptly took out parchment, ink, and her quill and began to work. Getting a head start instead would be helpful, she assumed. Valerie didn't bother to look at Joel, who was probably daydreaming as other students began to file into the classroom. _He should damn sure be thankful and polite to me from now and on_, she thought grudgingly, writing fast. _He owes me, big time._


	5. Breakfast Oddities

Breakfast Oddities

XXX

The following week seemed to pass by quickly. Joel and Valerie managed to make it through a whole Transfiguration class project together, which would have been hopeless without Valerie's help. Raphael and Valerie finally got some time together on the weekend. They generally spent it outside the castle, taking small walks while the weather was still good. Sunday, Slytherin just managed to defeat Hufflepuff in a dreadful four-hour game. Their chasers were of considerable talent, their keeper was somewhat good, but what got everyone were their beaters. Every member of the Slytherin Quidditch team got hit at least once, and some like poor Quincy got hit upwards of 5 times. What was so funny but shocking was that one of the Hufflepuff beaters happened to be a girl. She was a blonde-bombshell named June Summers. Female beaters were unheard of at Hogwarts, and she was also a pretty small girl at that. It was something about the arm she had was absolutely formidable, making anyone who poked fun at her regret it immediately. Valerie was thankful when Maggie finally managed to catch the snitch, causing the game to end. She really didn't want to worry about those bludgers of doom anymore, she had seen enough of them already to last her the next few seasons.

That night, when Valerie and the rest of her victorious and jubilant team returned to the celebratory party going on in the common room, all she wanted was to head to bed. Instead, Raphael decided to rain her with questions about Joel yet again. The whole interrogation process was really starting to irritate her. She realized how shaken he had been when he discovered that Joel wasn't treating his Rinaldo girl with much respect. Joel really was getting better, though, Valerie had to admit to herself. He wasn't _as_ unbearable anymore. Maybe Raphael heard something he also didn't like about Joel from someone else. _That's rumors for you_, Valerie thought to herself as Raphael persisted. She began to only reply with shakes or nods of her head, hoping that he would get the picture that she was tired and wasn't in the mood for this bullshit. Eventually he did, and reluctantly let Valerie slump off to her dorm and go to bed early.

She woke very early the next morning to the sound of snoring from Leanne Porter, her potions partner. The was no Slytherin Quidditch practice, as far as she knew. Valerie sat up and stretched her arms out, yawning. _Going to breakfast early would be nice for a change, I can get some alone time in_, Valerie thought. She slid her slender legs off the bed and stood. She dressed slowly, and brushed her long hair until it was straight, neat and tangle-free. She took a hair tie off from her wrist, beginning to move her hair into her normal pony-tail, before deciding against it. She left her hair down with a small smile to the mirror, and she strode through the common room, up the various dungeons and halls and finally into the Great Hall. Breakfast had just started, and was virtually empty. Two Hufflepuff boys huddled over some parchment way over by their appropriate table. A single Gryffindor girl was simply sleeping on the wooden table, which made Valerie contort her face in confusion as to why she spent her night in the Great Hall. She made her way down to the far side of the Slytherin table and took a seat, momentarily glancing over at the huge hourglasses full of points that each house had currently earned. Ravenclaw was winning. Valerie smacked her lips contempt. _So, they have to win everything now, don't they?_

Valerie helped herself to some waffles and an orange. She ate quietly, relishing the silence around her. Her mind drifted into everything, like Quidditch, her grades, Raphael and even-

"Valerie?" The smooth, deep voice had grown all too familiar. She nearly choked in surprise and twisted around quickly.

Joel was walking towards her in long, rhythmic strides as usual, flanked by two recognizable faces. The first was Daniel Klein, the boy she knew from her Astronomy class. He was a tad on the short side, with semi-wispy light brown hair that was also tufted upwards. His skin was slightly tan, his grin was large, and his eyes were kind, as usual. To Valerie's knowledge, his mother, Professor Klein, was the charms teacher at school.

The second face belonged to the only female beater in all of Hogwarts, June Summers. She was also rather short, with wide green eyes and bouncy blonde curls that fell to her mid back. Her face was round and she had a notable button nose, accompanied with rosy cheeks to make a doll like face. Her expression was not as happy, and instead looked pretty tired.

Valerie put down her fork, staring at them awkwardly. Joel laughed at her expression as the trio came to a halt in front of her. She saw Daniel give her a friendly wave, which made her weakly smile in return, as she then looked up to Joel, unsure of how to act to yet another unexpected encounter with the guy.

"So, what are you doing here bright and early?" Joel inquired, as Valerie sub-consciously admired the way the light made his features look. This statement, even if it was a figure of speech, was untrue because it was actually still quite dark outside.

Valerie decided not to reply, instead saying, "I was going to ask you the same question." She still kept her tone sharp while talking to Joel.

There was a long pause before someone finally intervened. "We always come early." Daniel said quickly, deciding to save the awkward conversation by hopping in. He looked down to the books and his arms, showing Valerie what he was talking about. "We have a study session together around this time almost every morning. I know-crazy right? But it's beneficial for all of us. So it's all worth it in the long run." Valerie really respected the way he almost always lightened up a conversation.

"Oh, okay. Makes sense." she said rather neutrally. _That really is a smart strategy for doing well_, Valerie thought fondly. Since the three seemed to be good friends, but in separate houses (which made common room studying impossible), meeting this early before the morning rush was actually quite clever.

Without asking, Joel sat down next to Valerie, receiving a bewildered glance that was only a step away from a glare. June and Daniel took their seats on the other side of the table, placing their study material on the table routinely. _So much for alone time..._

Valerie sat there, and once again proper words failed her. Daniel had just taken out a large roll of parchment and a quill, and began scribbling something down very quickly. He eventually looked up to Valerie, and asked, "So, Valerie, may I get a few words from you for the Quidditch column of my newspaper? Everyone is dying to hear about your takes on your comeback game against Hufflepuff-" he looked a June with a hesitating smile and then back to Valerie, "-And about the upcoming one against Gryffindor?"

Valerie shrugged, ignoring the fact that Joel was sitting so close that their arms were touching. "Honestly, I'm not intimidated by Gryffindor's team at all. That Alayna Williams may train her team to death, but they still don't have the friendship quality between their players as most the other teams do. And her bias against female players is very hypocritical, assuming she is one." Valerie glanced at Joel, who was tapping his fingers on the table and supposedly reading a textbook, but she knew he was listening. "As for the Hufflepuff game, I thought it was brilliant. Their beaters are absolutely incredible, and so is their sportsmanship."

June looked pleasantly pleased by Valerie's words, and sat up straighter with a grin_. _Daniel was still wildly writing, nodding the whole time as he did so. He looked up again, cleared his throat, and asked, "...And what about nexts weeks game against Ravenclaw? Your last match against them, as everybody knows, was quite horrorific. Are you expecting a vengeful comeback from Slytherin?"

Valerie knew Joel had willingly divided his attention to see what she would say. She smirked, shoving him ever so slightly with her arm, and nodded. "Of course. Ravenclaw better be prepared, because we definitely aren't going to have a slip-up like that again." She finished, as she looked to see Joel smiling. He was ever so amused by Valerie's confidence yet again.

Daniel, looking even more jubilant than normal, finished writing and rolled up his parchment. He looked thoroughly pleased, and accomplished. "Thanks, Valerie! The new edition of _Hogwarts Weekly _is going to be absolutely fantastic, thanks to you! Maybe you can even be a regular contributor to the Quidditch column, huh? That would be incredible."

Valerie giggled at his energy, "Maybe." she said warmly.

Valerie had sat with the group for about twenty more minutes at this point. She had listened as June explained her issues with her Herbology essay, and Valerie was glad to read over it for her. Daniel seemed to just be working on _Hogwarts Weekly, _and Joel was just staring blankly at the pages of _A History of Magic._ Valerie believed that she hadn't seen him turn a page yet. The noise level went up, as students began to pour into the Great Hall for breakfast. This began to worry Valerie. She was sitting at the Slytherin table with a Hufflepuff beater, a Gryffindor prefect, and a muggle-born Ravenclaw. The mix was not only odd, but it was sure to raise eyebrows from her house mates. Her elder sister, Cassa, had just entered the Hall talking loudly, surrounded by a herd of boys.(As usual) Soon after, her little sister Natalia (who was Joseph's twin) also made her way over to the table, looking over at Valerie with a dull expression. _I can't be seen with them like this._ Valerie stood with haste, watching them anxiously. "Um, I have to go now, sorry guys." she said.

June looked puzzled, "But first period doesn't start for-"

"-I know, I know, sorry!" Valerie began to rush off, "-Bye!"

June and Daniel looked at each other, equally confused by Valerie's sudden disappearance. Joel, knowing all too well her reasoning behind her speedy departure, just shook his head disappointedly. He grabbed his books, and looked up at the other two. "Lets move to a different table." He said quietly, as he heard a couple of Slytherin boys jeering at him. They both gathered their things and followed him without another word.


	6. Dimples

**!!!Oh, Peeves is in this Chapter, and he's not an original character of mine as everybody knows. :)!!!**

XXX

Dimples

XXX

Valerie strode down the ancient corridors, all alone. She was coming back from Astronomy, where Daniel Klein had curiously, but politely asked her what was the deal with her sudden departure earlier that day. Valerie made up some rubbish on the spot, telling him that she had forgotten about an important subject she had to look up in the library for homework. Daniel accepted the excuse, though he still appeared to be unconvinced.

She sighed. Her siblings thought it was weird enough that she was on speaking terms with people from other houses. Joseph commonly voiced his negative opinions about Valerie. She was probably his least favorite sister, which was no skin off of her nose. She loathed him just as equally. Valerie believed (due to strong evidence) that his hatred was just due to her general tolerance of others, which was childish and pathetic.

She pushed some of her hair behind her ear, deep in thought. However foolish she thought all of it was, she felt as though she needed to follow her families outrageous rules. She knew a lot was at stake if she didn't...

Valerie continued down the halls towards the dungeons. She began to hear footsteps echoing behind her, but thought nothing of it. It was probably another student making their way to the common room. Plus, the dungeons of Hogwarts had the tendency to echo horribly. She began to walk faster, trying to ignore Peeves as he floated by taunting her about her hair being down. When he dared to call it frizzy was when Valerie reacted. She gave him a ferocious glare and aimed a nasty hex at the poltergeist, who dodged and giggled. Peeves threw what seemed to be an old shoe at her, then vanished into the dark brick walls of the dungeons. _Thank god that dumb ass ghost is gone._ She began to walk again, shrugging off the one of many quite frequent encounters she had with the annoying ghost. As Valerie walked, she believed that the steps behind her would grow softer. She even quickened her pace, but they just grew louder instead. She came to a halt and spun around, just to make sure she wasn't going coo-coo bananas.

"H-Hampton?!" Valerie blinked, and sure enough the tall, handsome boy stood before her. "What _the hell_ are you doing down here? And how did you even know I'd be here?"

Joel didn't reply at first, and looked around at his surroundings with a notable frown. The dark walkways, (more like tunnels) were only lit by periodical dim green lamps. The tunnels themselves were very very narrow. It truly looked like any claustrophobic kids nightmare. The sound of dripping water echoed everywhere, and the smell was definitely not something pleasant to the nostrils. He was clearly put-off by the environment that the Slytherin kids were oh so used to. "How you manage to live down here would be the more appropriate question."

"We have a furnished common room too, you know." She replied unenergetically, pointing down the narrow tunnel of darkness. "But that's not the point, I'm going to ask you again, why are you-" she was cut off by the sound of many approaching footsteps. Her heart skipped a beat, and she instantly grabbed Joel's arm and forcefully pulled him deeper into the dungeons. Eventually, they came to an intersection with another completely dark tunnel, and Valerie made a sharp turn, pulling him into the shadows that the even smaller hallway had created.

"What's going -"

"Sssh!" she interrupted him, pulling him down to sit next to her, their backs against the wall.

Eventually the group of people got close enough to where Valerie could decipher exactly who they were.

"I really wonder why someone doesn't do something about that snotty little shit. He's such a teachers pet, it's almost unbearable! Those damn first year's are sooo annoying." Chester Hethroweton's booming voice echoed so loudly it was uncomfortable to listen to.

"Maybe we'll have to do something about him. I don't take kindly to them either. Especially ones in Gryffindor." She easily recognized Joseph's pompous voice.

"Yeaaah, this 'ill be jus' as fun as when we temporarily blinded a couple o' em an' watched em' trip o'er each otha!" That was Curtis Green's voice, a stupid boy with a tacky moustache.

Valerie assumed there must have been at least two other boys with them, and they all laughed in recollection of the nasty event. She wondered how they all fit comfortably through the narrow tunnels as a group.

"That's wha' they get fer botherin' Joseph Rinaldo!" Curtis piped up, and everyone let out a whoop in agreement. Valerie could just imagine the smirk on her brother's face as the group walked past.

When they were far enough away, Valerie stood. She watched as Joel stood tall again, and also watched as he cringed and swatted his head like he felt a bug there. "This place is filthy." he murmured,staring at a smashed bug in his hand in disgust. "And those guys are douchebags. Talk about self esteem issues... Picking on first years like that."

Valerie looked at her feet. "You should see what they do to the muggle-born ones." She suddenly inhaled in realization. Se had just remembered that Joel was indeed a muggle-born too, and probably didn't take too kindly to hearing about them being bullied. She softened her gaze as she looked up at him once again, "I.. I'm sorry." she whispered gently.

Joel sighed and shrugged, like it didn't bother him in the least, and pulled out something from one of the pockets on his robes. "You forgot this in Transfiguration." He held her favorite purple quill with his long fingers. She knew she had left it somewhere!

Valerie's large dark eyes widened even more as she lay eyes on the quill. "Wow, thanks!" She breathed, taking it from him, "-I've been looking everywhere for it."

He chuckled, and Valerie smiled up at him for the first time. Noticing, Joel looked pleasantly surprised. Using the what little light was available, he studied her face as if a smile from Valerie was a once in a lifetime occasion. "Wow, Valerie, you have dimples when you smile. I don't see that often. That's really adorable." he said kindly, giving her a very charming smile.

Her heart fluttered at this, and her stomach felt like it was in free fall. The compliment flattered her, almost as much as it had taken her by surprise. _Adorable?_ "...Th-thanks?" she said shakily. She felt her cheeks grow warmer, and she looked hesitantly to brick floor, knowing that meeting his gray gaze would just make a connection that she didn't want to happen. "I gotta go." She said slowly, keeping her eyes averted.

Joel knew that it was such a stupid thing to say to Valerie. He looked at her, to the ceiling, to her, and then back out into the hallway, clearly nervous. "Y-yeah. Me too." Simultaneously they rounded the corner an half-ran in opposite directions down the original narrow tunnel. Valerie's heart was still beating quickly.

XXX

The following week was so incredibly awkward that Valerie wasn't sure if she's ever had one quite like it. It seemed like everything had began to take a dramatic change in her life. Valerie had grown more and more openly attached to her morning study group, consisting of Daniel, June, and Joel. She began to resist the attempts to leave with the other Slytherin watching, and instead pretended like it was nothing abnormal.

Even though Joel and Valerie hadn't talked since the night in the dungeons, they still participated equally in the student group. The only interaction they shared together was the occasion weak smile. Oh, and the times when their eyes locked for what seemed like ages.

It was that day during Transfiguration, every time Valerie met Joel's gaze she felt like a shock went through her momentarily. They still didn't speak, however, not even once. How long they held each other's stare, unsure of what was happening between them, Valerie had no clue. How long they would refuse speak to each other was yet another mystery. _This isn't right. It can't be right. Impossible. I just need to avoid him... I just need to stay true to Raphael. Joel has a girlfriend too, this isn't right at all. Why am I even thinking about it so much? It shouldn't bother me at all! He's a mu-_

"Alright, pupils of mine! I expect to see essays in the first thing tomorrow morning! Dismissed!" Professor Vlamer announced gleefully, as he watched his students leave.

Valerie stood promptly, scooting past Joel, her agility quite surprising. As she dead-panned for the door, she heard her name called out and turned around knowingly.

Joel walked up to her slowly, nodding as he did so. "Um. I just wanted to say good luck on your match against Gryffindor tonight..." he paused, peering down at his thumbs as he twiddled them. His voice was still smooth like butter, despite his uncharacteristic drop in confidence. Hearing his voice again was like a breath of fresh air.

Valerie nodded, pushing the door open without looking at him a second time. "Thanks, Hampton." she muttered, intent on leaving-

"-And one more thing." He stood directly behind her at this point in the doorway, staring down at her intently. She reluctantly twisted around to look him in the eyes. He bent down to her level, placing one warm hand on her small shoulder, and whispered in her ear, "Call me Joel." The sensation of his breath against her neck sent a sort of warm and fuzzy chill down her spine. She nodded curtly once and took off, refusing to say another word. On her way down the moving staircase she saw Rachel Durko climbing them the opposite way. Immediately, Rachel shot her a dirty look, which Valerie gladly returned without hesitation. _She's probably on her way to see Joel right now._ The thought burned in her mind, causing Valerie to fume.

XXX

Slytherin murdered Gryffindor. 490 to 70. Valerie finally had a chance to escape all the days concerning, conflicting, and positively weird thoughts. She finally had the chance to channel all her energy into her one true passion. The outcome was phenomenal. As the two teams landed, and began to shake each others hands out of tradition, Alayna Williams looked like she was going to murder someone. Her hazel eyes were burning holes into Valerie, and her face was contorted like she just smelt something horrible and watched her puppy get hit by a truck at the same time. This just caused Valerie to giggle uncontrollably. Normally Valerie wasn't so immature, but this was an exception that had to be made.

Valerie walked with Quincy and Reggie off the field, all discussing the game excitedly together. The trio arrived at Slytherin's changing room to see Raphael standing there, his hands in his pockets, looking rather solemn. Valerie rose one eyebrow but smiled weakly at him.

"God dammit!" Reggie shook the doorknob angrily. "Chester locked us out again! That fucking-"

"Who has the key?" Quincy interrupted calmly, watching as Reggie turned red. Quincy, however, didn't look stressed at all.

"Julius! And you know he's got held back for an interview by some of those freakin' _Hogwarts Weekly_ kids. Damn!" Reggie pounded the door. "My bag's in there and I have an assignment for Dottileman! He's already extended my time limit, and I'm sure he won't do it again!"

Quincy scratched the stubble on his head that he called hair. "Wait, so none of us have wands?"

"Of course not, Quincy!" Reggie barked, still pounding on the door as if it would swing open obediently. "Remember, wands aren't allowed on you during-"

Raphael took out his wand impatiently and pointed it at the lock. _"Alohamora." _He said huskily, and the door swung open.

Reggie stormed inside. He didn't either bother changing out of his green and silver Quidditch robes. He didn't even take his gloves off. He thundered back outside, "Thanks Raphael!" he shouted and disappeared around a corner.

Valerie laughed but Raphael didn't. She looked at him with confusion. "Wow, what's eating you, Raphael?" she asked as she walked closer to him.

He closed his eyes briefly, the dark circles under his eyes seemed even more profound. "Valerie, I'm more than worried about you. You've been acting very odd lately." he admitted bluntly, and this caused Valerie immediately took two steps back in discontent.

"Me? How the hell have I been different lately?" she demanded, tilting her head sassily.

"For one, you never come to breakfast with me anymore." _Oh. Yeah. I usually just hang with Daniel, June and... Joel. I totally forgot- wait...Does Raphael know this? _"And you've been a lot more... How can I put this nicely?... Snappy." Raphael sighed and opened his eyes to look at an angered Valerie. He was all to aware that the storm was brewing inside her head, and he was going to take it full force.

"Oh so it's all my fault now isn't it?" she sneered, ripping off her gloves and throwing them on the floor. "You haven't been doing a damn thing but questioning me about Joel!"

"Valerie, listen, I want you to be safe. I want to make sure those people, and especially that Hampton guy, aren't corrupting you-!"

"CORRUPTING ME?" Valerie shouted incredulously, and a few kids walking by jumped. "You think Joel is CORRUPTING me?!"

"No, I didn't mean it like you're taking it-"

"Then how the fuck do you mean it?!"

"That guy is a womanizer, Val, just look at him!," Raphael desperately tried explaining, "Girls are _always_ drooling over him and from what I hear he is a cheater! I don't think he's been faithful to Rachel since the minute they hooked up!" Raphael followed her as Valerie loudly stormed into the changing room, causing Quincy to yelp and hobble into his jeans (and decency) quickly.

"I just think it would be much better if you're not around Joel as much. I mean, you can switch your class or something, right? Plus, Valerie, I don't know if you know this or not but Joel is a Mudbl-"

"MUGGLE-BORN!" Valerie corrected him using a severely venomous tone, before Raphael could finish saying his sentence. "SO WHAT IF I CHOOSE TO SPEND TIME WITH A MUGGLE-BORN?" She let out a furious growl-like sound and reached for her bag with such force that when she pulled it upwards it hit the bench it was under and knocked it sideways.

"Val." Raphael's voice was still normal, if not even more hushed. "Don't let muggles like him influence you, you're a Rinaldo, Valerie! You have a reputation to live up to-"

"GEE, THANKS-DAD!" She screeched, and pushed past Raphael. "That's just what I need in my life! ANOTHER PERSON TELLING ME HOW TO LIVE! I don't give a rats ass that Joel is muggle-born, or that I probably have ol' Salazar Slytherin writhing in his grave! But apparently YOU DO Raphael! I can't have that!"

Right as she was about to leave the room she spun around, her eyes blazing with a fiery anger Raphael never had witnessed before. "WE'RE OVER!"

Raphael stood there, aghast. He was so shocked by everything that had just happened in the last couple minutes that he couldn't move. Quincy's eyes were wide with horror at all the fury he had just seen explode out of a single girl.


	7. A Helping Hand

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A Helping Hand

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Valerie dashed as fast as she could up the dirt pathway that lead from the Quidditch Pitch towards the castle. Hot tears had began to stream down her round face, and her mind was whirling at one thousand miles an hour. She stumbled and fell to the ground and let out an agonizing sob. She quickly scrabbled to her feet, not even bothering to dust herself off, and persisted. She refused to let up on her pace until she was well within the dungeons.

A couple of students stopped to ask her what was wrong when she had sped by, but it was useless. Anger and confusion seared inside of her like a raging fire, causing for her to yet again fall to her knees.

The argument played over and over in her head. _What's going to happen to me now? I severed my relationship, what are people going to think?! What's father going to do when he finds out-?!_

Her heart pounded in her chest as punched her gloved fist into the floor. More tears of frustration welled and poured from her glistening eyes. The lamps around her began to shiver and shake, and the floor itself seemed to quake. It was much like a mini earthquake had struck the dungeons of Hogwarts. The glass of the green lamps finally burst and they were snuffed out. This left Valerie in complete darkness, still sobbing heavily.

She was very _very_ angry, as well as very _very_ perplexed.

When she had collected herself, she gathered the energy to blindly navigate her way back to the common room. She heard that people were talking to her, but she didn't actually listen. Raphael was nowhere to be seen, but Quincy had apparently let slip to everyone what had happened already. Everyone in the Slytherin common room peered up from what they were doing just to stare at her, like deer in headlights. She didn't care.

She threw the door open to her dormitory, where Leanne Porter and a couple other girls immediately pounced on her with loads of irritating "gossip" questions. Valerie, her eyes still heavily bloodshot, tried her hardest to ignore them. When Leanne decided to grab her sleeve was when Valerie snapped. She violently slapped Leanne's hand away, "Leave... me... alone." Valerie seethed, her slow annunciation was quite frightening. Leanne's eyes bulged. She held her hand in pain, and took two cautious steps back. She apologized silently, and rushed out of the room with all the other girls in fear.

Valerie ripped her Quidditch cloaks off and changed for bed. She slid into her bed and pulled the heavy quilt over her head. She curled into a ball, still sobbing silently, and somehow managed to find sleep.

XXX

Valerie woke very late the next morning. It was past nine o'clock, which meant that first period was already half-way over. She rose from bed and got ready for the day at snail-pace, because she really didn't give a flying fuck what would result from being late. The worst case scenario was probably a weekend detention.

She shuffled her way up the dungeons and corridors, her eyes still slightly puffy looking, and her face was much more pale than usual. She eventually reached the tower that Transfiguration was held in. Still feeling incredibly drained from last night, she opened the door unenergetically. She felt the whole classroom's eyes on her, and she figured they were all amazed at how Valerie had managed to be late for once.

"Mrs. Rinaldo!" Professor Vlamer piped up happily, fixing his monocle as he spoke. "How nice of you to join us at last! Luckily for you, we postponed the test until Friday! Go ahead and take your seat, hopefully Mr. Hampton can help you catch up!"

Valerie felt the slightest feeling of relief at Vlamer's tolerance for her tardiness. It immediately vanished as she made the embarrassing walk of shame down the middle of the classroom's long aisle. Everyone still watched her as though it were some kind of phenomenon, and she swore she heard a couple of Gryffindor girls giggle. Only then did Valerie realize that she hadn't brushed her hair that morning, and it probably looked god-awful. Her lip twitched and she thought nothing more of it.

She made it to her seat at last and slumped down into the chair. She dropped her bag listlessly with a loud thump, and folded her arms on the table. She rested her head on top of her arms, hiding her face almost shamefully. She wasn't about to let Joel see her in this condition.

Ten minutes had passed, and Valerie still hadn't moved. A boy she knew in Slytherin walked over to their table and tried to talk to her and cheer her up, but he failed miserably. Receiving a defensive look from Joel, the boy returned to his seat in defeat. Vlamer himself tried to talk to her, but he alas got no reply. Frowning sympathetically, he patted Valerie on the shoulder and walked away in full understanding.

Five more minutes passed, and she knew class would be over soon. It wasn't until she was about to move and grab her bag was when she felt a hand on her back. She shuddered, as Joel rubbed her back gently. Valerie sniffed, welcoming the comfort from him. She was in no mood to talk, but just knowing that someone was there helped.

Vlamer had dismissed the class, but Valerie still sat in her seat with her head on her arms; Joel didn't budge either, still trying his hardest to comfort his Transfiguration partner. He had no idea what was wrong, but he knew it must've been something quite terrible to make Valerie act this way.

After what seemed like an eternity to her, Valerie lifted her head. Her eyes were still only slightly red, but something about them showed the world the pain she was in. She bent down and grabbed her bag, hoisted it on her shoulder and looked over at Joel. His eyes were soft, and his large smile was warm. Valerie's spirits had been lifted, and she managed to curl her lips into a very small smile. He stood when she did, still not saying a word, when the moment was inconveniently interrupted.

"What's taking you forever?" Rachel's tone was a little too bitchy, Valerie thought to herself bitterly. Rachel's chocolate eyes switched from her boyfriend and back to Valerie. She looked disgusted by what she saw.

"Hold on one moment, Ray." Joel said rather impatiently, keeping his eyes on Valerie. To this Rachel crossed her arms in contempt, still bearing down on the pair with eyes that screamed jealously. Valerie looked up at him once more, feeling his warm hand on her shoulder once again. He patted her twice, much like Vlamer did, but the feeling she got in return was worlds different. "Take it easy, Valerie." he instructed her genially as she stared at the floor again, overwhelmed by the situation she so feared of falling in to.

With that he left her standing alone. Valerie followed him with her eyes as he walked over to Rachel who was now tapping her foot. "What the hell are you doing with a Rinaldo of all people, Joel?" She was whispering but her tone was so harsh that Valerie could make out every word of her sentence. "Those people are heartless and repulsive! Or do you not remember that match against Slytherin a while back?" They walked side by side out of the door, and Valerie heard Joel's deep voice reply, but could not decipher the words.

XXX

Valerie sat alone on a small, wooden bench outside the enormous walls of Hogwarts castle. It was a rather reclusive spot, in the shade of a wonky looking maple tree, which she liked. She often went there to be alone, or if she needed to escape for some fresh air, and in this case it was the latter. She studied the long grass as it swayed in the autumn gust. It was all beginning to brown, signaling that winter was well on it's way. She inhaled deeply, feeling the wind whip through her hair. Her cheeks were reddening and numb, due to the chilly air but she didn't mind it much. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth. All she had on was her school uniform and robes, with no gloves or a scarf to help keep her warm. She looked up to the clouds, which were now turning a beautiful shade of pink, with random splashes of orange as the sun began to set. This caused her to grin.

The news of her break-up with Raphael spread like a nasty wildfire through the school. Luckily, many did not know exactly what was said in the conversation, (thanks to Quincy restricting himself.) They just had knowledge of the very nasty, and explosive disagreement. It was inevitable that ridiculous rumors spread, and one even let others to believe that Valerie had punched Raphael squarely in the face, which of course wasn't true. However infuriated she was with the controlling bastard at the moment, she would never dare to stoop so low.

She had a discussion with Daniel in Astronomy, which was probably the first conversation she held with someone since the argument. Daniel knew to avoid the subject of Raphael, which Valerie respected immensely. Instead they talked about their third year bogart experiences, where Daniel broke out into a hilarious story of him having to face larger than life, rabid rat. Valerie giggled and explained how her bogart turned into what seemed like a pool of water that "filled" the classroom. The teacher had to step in, due to Valerie being completely petrified, because she was more than convinced that she would drown. They both laughed as she desperately explained how she can't swim, so it all made perfect sense.

Recalling the conversation had already put Valerie in a better mood as she sat alone. She rose one small hand to her hair and began to twirl a lock of it between her fingers, her eyes were still pensive as they interpreted each colorful cloud formation as different figures or shapes.

She felt a presence and looked to her left, knowing already who it was. Joel always had the tendency of finding her, but this time it was just flat out peculiar. She was far far away from any kind of heavily trafficked area in the castle. Plus it was nearly dark, and also nearly time for curfew.

"How'd you find me?" she asked, hugging herself even more tightly, as the cold air whipped against her pale skin even more. She was a little grateful when he sat down beside her on the old wooden bench, because he blocked some of the harsh wind with his tall, lean body. He wasn't wearing his cloak. Instead he wore a jacket over his school sweater, and a blue and silver scarf wrapped around his long neck.

He furrowed his brow at her question. "You act like it's rocket science or something." he stated, his gelled hair barely moving in the wind. Unlike Valerie's, her's lashed at her face uncomfortably.

"Well, this is an awfully large campus, if you haven't noticed... Joel." she replied, calling him by his first name for the first time.

He smiled pleasantly, but didn't look at her, his gray eyes were on the sunset. Valerie could see the warm colors of the sky reflecting beautifully within them. "If you really want to know, I just asked Quincy and them during dinner. I got a lot of dirty looks in the process, but eventually they told me you were probably outside near the Astronomy tower. They told me that's a hang out of yours or something like that."

Valerie's heart skipped a beat. _Joel went searching for me, and asked __**Quincy,**__ of all people, where I was? Oh god... That's not good, that's not good at all!_ "I hope to god Raphael wasn't at the table... Was he?" she asked quietly.

"No. I didn't see him." Joel replied plainly, still watching the sunset with interest. _Thank god... Wait! How does Quincy know where I like to hang out by myself?! I might of told him without knowing... Damn, I need to find a new place!_

Valerie shivered violently, and her teeth were noticeably chattering. Joel noticed this and, as though it were his que, scooted closer to her. Her cheeks felt warm again as she watched him remove his scarf from around his neck. He held it in his hand and looked at her expectantly. When she shook her head he rolled his eyes and smirked. "Here," he said, and he began to wrap it around her gently. He took special care to make sure her hair was below the blue scarf, so it wouldn't whip at her cheeks anymore. A little surprised at his insistence, she just shrugged. "You're loss, I guess." she teased, although she was actually quite glad that he offered it to her. His scarf kind of smelled like cinnamon.

He hunched his shoulders to remove his jacket, when Valerie intervened. "No, no, no, I'm not _that_ cold, it's fine-"

"Take it!" He coaxed, pushing it closer to her, and she decided to give in. She was really cold, after all. Valerie looked at his rather tight fitting black sweater, over the nice white button up accompanied by a blue tie of course. The core of the uniform, as all students knew, and she couldn't imagine how cold he was beginning to feel in that alone. She noted his very long and lean torso, but yet he wasn't lanky looking. His physique was very easy on her eyes.

She then moved her gaze upward and studied the recognizable eagle patch on the right side of his sweater. She smiled meekly, and couldn't help but feel like it was refreshing to see something other than a snake for once. "Do you like being in Ravenclaw..?" Valerie couldn't help herself from asking. She felt him move against her arm as he leaned forward, lacing his hands together over his knees.

"I guess it's alright," he said, and then paused to yawn before continuing, "-I have to deal with quite a few know-it-alls. But that's the only downfall, really." Valerie thoroughly enjoyed listening to Joel's rhythmic way of speaking.

There was a long pause, and Valerie sniffed a little before saying, "Sometimes I wish I wasn't in Slytherin..."

Joel turned his full attention to her after the statement. He looked appalled at what she just admitted to. "R-really?" he asked, trying not to sound too surprised. "Why? I thought since-"

"Since I'm a Rinaldo with famous blood that I'd have an obsession with being in Slytherin? No, not at all... I think the Sorting Hat placed me in Slytherin just because of my background and family. I don't think I was sorted based on my character at all. And sometimes... Sometimes... I kind of feel ashamed of who I am and what I'm expected to be.... " The words came to her fluidly, due to being bottled up for years. Her lip trembled a little bit, and she blinked a couple of times. There was a still silence, before she weakly said, "I.. I haven't told anyone that before... Promise me you-"

"I won't." His tone was short, serious and very believable. "I'd never."

Another pause. "...You know, you're really easy to talk to, Joel." she whispered almost inaudibly. "... You don't judge me like everyone else."

"I know." he said warmly, causing Valerie to genuinely smile at him. After yet another awkward pause, he began to laugh, and she did too, and they locked eyes yet again. Her heart began to beat faster, and she swore she saw his freckled cheeks turn just a hue pink.

"It's almost dark." Valerie said finally. The sun had set behind the mountains, and it had grow even colder.

Joel was starting to shiver just a little bit, and his lips were beginning to become discolored, but he shrugged. "I barely ever make curfew," he admitted easily.

The wind howled, and the sky was now turning a deep blue color, "We can at least go back into the castle where it's warm-"

"-And get caught by a teacher? Are you crazy? We should hold off on that for about an hour after curfew. That's when they all give up and go to bed." Joel sounded like a pro, like he knew what he was talking about. So Valerie ultimately decided trust in him. So the pair continued to sit, talking and laughing together. They discussed many things ranging from school, to Quidditch, and apparently even swimming. Valerie looked uncertain as Joel described his great passion for the sport when he was home for his summer vacations. He was actually quite accomplished in the butterfly stroke, having won medals and trophies from various prestigious meets and competitions. Valerie listened politely, nodding and smiling to his enthusiasm. Eventually he asked her the question she had been dreading, and she looked to her feet to try and comfort her through what she was about to admit.

"...I don't know how to swim... Actually... I'm scared to death of the water." Spitting it out was harder than she imagined. She still looked at her feet, but it was hard to tell that she was heavily blushing from embarrassment because of her wind kissed cheeks.

Joel didn't say anything at first. It was hard to find something appropriate to say to that. He bit his lip, pondering, and Valerie became even more aware and embarrassed of her huge shortcoming as the seconds dragged on.

"I could teach you."

Valerie rose her eyebrows in doubt. "Psh, really? I think it's impossible-"

"-Of course it isn't!" he said quickly, scooting even closer to her, his eyes suddenly wide with child-like excitement. His face was very close to hers now, but she wasn't phased at all by the close conversation. "I could try to teach you in the lake! Of course, when summer rolls around towards the end of the year, it's apparently far too cold right now-,"

"-I don't know-"

"C'mon, Val!" Joel encouraged her, and Valerie just rolled her eyes with a small laugh and said, "Fine-fine! I'll let you try to teach me, but you'll regret it."

His grin was huge, and he now looked extremely excited about his new task. "Awesome!"

Valerie noticed that most the stars had appeared in the sky above. This was probably the signal for them to head back in. She stood without warning, and reluctantly removed the warm and cozy jacket. "Thanks so much for letting me use that." she said happily.

Joel also stood to his towering height. He nodded, still smiling. "No problem, anytime." Valerie thought it was actually quite funny how much taller he was than her. It was almost a foot in difference.

They snuck back into the castle together, creeping along the sides of the corridors all the way up until they had to go their separate ways. They stared at each other, unsure if a hug would be too much, and Valerie turned her back on him before she was tempted too much more. "Bye." She whispered, and she began to walk away lightly on her feet.

"See you tomorrow." he whispered back, but Joel was quite sure she didn't hear him. He watched longingly as she made her way slowly and gracefully down the stone corridor, before finally rounding a corner and disappearing from his vision.


	8. Fighting

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Fighting

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Valerie carefully snuck into the Slytherin common room as quietly as she possibly could. She was lucky not to be caught by a prefect on hall patrol, or a teacher for that matter. Elated by her success, she waltzed deeper into the ornate, and nom almost completely dark room. Her smile stretched from ear to ear. She was about to head to her dormitory, when she heard a silk-like voice coming from the shadows on the other side of the stone fireplace. "What... are... you... wearing?"

Valerie spun around on Cassa. Her large smile instantly vanished, and her eyes narrowed to slits. "Wow Cassa, that's a nice way to greet your sister." Valerie sneered, as she watched her tall model-like sibling trot up to her. Valerie noticed it then, that her sister wasn't just making a fashion statement. Her eyes were full of disgust and hatred.

Valerie looked down to the blue and white scarf she still had wrapped delicately around her shoulders. She knew she had made a fatal mistake.

"JOSEPH!" Cassa shrieked, her voice echoed very unpleasantly. Valerie glared at her sister, her feared fury beginning to rise.

"Why the fuck are you yelling for, Cassa?!" Valerie snapped, but Cassa did not reply. Cassa grit her teeth and made a snarl like expression with her angular face. She lurched forward, grasping Joel's scarf in between the bones she called fingers. She violently began and attempt rip it from Valerie's neck, who resisted stubbornly. Cassa shrieked again, still trying to tear the scarf from her sister's neck, and was now almost choking Valerie. Adrenaline pumped through Valerie's veins at the sudden attack brought on by her own sister. Valerie ducked out of the strangle-hold of the scarf, letting Cassa yank the scarf upwards with all her might. With no resistance against her strength, Cassa threw herself off balance, and Valerie seized the moment. She rushed forward, colliding with her sister in a tackle-like manner. She barreled Cassa into the cold stone floor without even a rug to cushion, and Cassa let out a wail of pain.

Valerie didn't even think to pull out her wand. She raised her fist, and aimed a barrage of punches to Cassa's body as she struggled beneath her. Rage was fueling her like gasoline does for a fire. Unaware of the nonstop shouting in her surroundings, Valerie was roughly yanked apart from Cassa, who was still sprawled on the ground, cringing, and seemed to be crying now. Valerie was still flailing, trying to get at Cassa with all her might.

"STOP IT!" Julius boomed, and suddenly Valerie came back to reality. Julius and Reggie each had a strong grip on both of her arms. Valerie fell to her knees, looking over to Cassa who had just sat up with the help of Joseph and a couple other students.

"SHE ATTACKED ME!" Cassa screamed, blood dripping from her nose. She was pointing at her sister as though she were a horrifying ghost, still trembling terribly. "SHE TRIED TO KILL ME-"

"YOU ATTACKED FIRST, YOU LIAR!" Valerie shouted at the top of her lungs, coughing immediately after.

Joseph looked around Cassa's trembling body and yanked the source of the whole argument from underneath her. "Maybe it had something to do with this filth!" he said, as he flung it away from him. "Why the did you bring that into your own damn common room in the first place?!" he fired at Valerie.

"Someone let me borrow it during Astronomy! I was cold and we were on top of the tower today!" Valerie said speedily, just now starting to take in the damage she had just dealt to her own neurotic sister. Of course, this was a lie, but some of the group that had formed in the common room seemed to believe it.

"Who's scarf was it then?" Joseph asked, his eyes wild.

"Rhonda Freeman," Valerie recited the name of the first Ravenclaw girl she knew that came to her mind.

"Whatever," said Joseph, leaving Cassa's side as one of her boy-buddy lackeys knelt down to fix her broken nose with a quick spell. Joseph walked over to where Valerie was still leaning between Julius and Reggie, and he loomed over her. "I think you're a little lying idiot, who is almost unsuitable for the Rinaldo name." She refused to look up at her brother, who then got into her face. "One more slip up like this," he breathed, invading her space, "-And father will hear all of the little things you've been doing to tarnish our name! You better feel grateful that you're so damn good at Quidditch, or else dad might have disowned you a long time ago-"

"Don't talk to Valerie like that." Julius said coldly, and Joseph switched his focus instantly to the Quidditch captain.

"Who are _**YOU**_to tell me how I can and cannot talk to my own sister, Zabini?!" Joseph hissed, as Zabini stepped between Joseph and Valerie. He was at least a head taller than Joseph, his hazel eyes giving such a chilling stare that Joseph must have faltered mentally. Valerie stood, with the assistance of Reggie, and watched what was unfolding before her eyes. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the clash of the sisters, and now were hopeful for Joseph Rinaldo to get a royal beat down from the Quidditch captain.

"Don't challenge me." Zabini's voice was so emotionless it was scary.

"WHAT?! I CAN CHALLENGE YOU ALL I WANT, YOU'RE NOT THE FUCKING BOSS OF ME-"

"You're cut." Julius interrupted Joseph's outburst, which silenced the small, stringy boy at once.

_"... You just cut me from the team?!......."_ Joseph seethed, his eyes bulging in rage. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

"BUT VALERIE WAS THE ONE WHO JUST-" Cassa tried to jump to her brother's aid in the situation, but one look from Julius silenced her as well.

"My decisions are final. Joseph will not be allowed participate on the Slytherin Quidditch team for the remainder of his time at Hogwarts. Valerie will be put on temporary suspension and will not be allowed to play again until the spring season of this year. I will tell our Head Boys and Girl of the situation at hand, and plead them not to bring any teachers into a matter that has already been taken care of." At this, Julius gave Joseph one last soul-piercing stare, and stalked off back to his dormitory without another word. Joseph let out a horrid screech of frustration, and kicked a nearby wooden chair over. This was probably only the beginning of his temper tantrum. He thundered off to his own dorm, to probably try and raise a revolt against Julius. Cassa was helped to her feet by a herd of her male supporters, playing up her minor injuries. (That had just been healed by magic) She cursed about Valerie loudly and obnoxiously, and was hauled off. People slowly began to filter out of the common room, whispering excitedly about what had just happened, but one approached Reggie and Valerie instead. It was Quincy, who bent over to pick up the scarf that had been stretched, somewhat torn, and tossed about the room.. He shoved it over to Valerie, who took it in her hands without question.

"I know who's it really is." He said quietly to her, his voice sounding somewhat pained, "He came to me, Reggie, and Julius at dinner, asking for you, so it's pretty damn obvious..... But I promise I won't say a thing. All I ask, is that you don't make many more stupid decisions, and think logically... Because once your in too deep... There's no turning back. My own father learned that the hard way, so trust me I know." Valerie looked into Quincy's coffee colored eyes, and nodded understandingly. Valerie then lightly embraced Quincy, sniffing as though she were about to fall into tears. She had no idea that Quincy was a half-blood, which he probably kept secret for obvious reasons. She was happy that he had decided to be open with her under the given circumstance, but a little distraught at how he kept this from her for such a long time. After all, Quincy was a quiet, ingenuitive, and cunning boy, whom Valerie has been attached to since their first year. He was fair to her, which was all that mattered. Reggie stood there awkwardly, watching the two converse. As for Reggie... Well, he was better than most of the other Slytherin boys too, a little more polite at least.

After the conversation, Valerie felt a pang in her stomach as she thought about Raphael. Had he just witnessed his ex-girlfriend tear her sister to pieces? She swallowed, a little afraid of what he may think of her now if he had seen it. _He probably thinks I'm a muggle-born loving, screeching she-devil out for blood... Wow that sounds really pleasant... _She hadn't seen him once since their break-up.

Quincy and Reggie had already said goodbye and departed, leaving Valerie alone in the common room. She clutched the scarf tightly in her hands, holding back tears. She lifted it to her nose slowly, and breathed in the cinnamon smell. She turned and made her way to her own dormitory, and what was sure to be a night of no rest.

XXX

Early the next day, Valerie made it her first priority to find Rhonda Freeman before breakfast. She knew she had to back up the impromptu lie she randomly dreamt of the night before. She searched for a good twenty minutes, asking almost every student she passed about Rhonda's whereabouts. When Valerie had finally been directed correctly to her with a couple of her friends, she approached the Ravenclaw girl with a rare, but knowingly fake smile on her face.

Rhonda looked appalled at Valerie's "happy" demeanor. Valerie reached into her own pocket and pulled out something within her clenched fist.

"Hey Freeman. Can I talk to you about something for a second?" she asked, forcing a gentle tone. Maybe she came across a little too suspicious.

Rhonda, still looking beside herself in confusion and apprehension, eventually nodded. Her friends almost instantly burst into laughter, Valerie assumed they all probably had a bad taste in their mouths for Rinaldo's as well. She could really care less about that right now.

Valerie cleared her throat, trying to ignore the caterpillars on Rhonda's face that called eyebrows. They irked Valerie to the core. _Haven't you ever heard of tweezers?!_

She then began to explain to Rhonda that if she promised to tell other people (if they asked) that she had indeed let Valerie borrow her scarf yesterday, she would give her ten galleons in reward. Valerie showed Rhonda the palm of her little hand, and sure enough ten gleaming coins lay upon in. Rhonda crossed her arms, and asked why she had to lie. Valerie simply told her it wasn't any of her business, especially if this amount of money was concerned. Swayed by Valerie's persuasion, Rhonda took the money from her hand with a shrug. "Alright, fine." she said cooly, looking Valerie in the eyes before turning back to talk with her friends. Valerie watched as Rhonda shot down the questions her annoyingly giddy friends asked, and pocketed the her newly earned money. Smirking, Valerie turned cleanly on her heel and speedily made her way to Transfiguration, since there was no time for breakfast this morning.

Elated that her lie would end up working on her prying brother, Valerie had a slight bounce to her step as she winded up the spiral staircase that lead to the Transfiguration classroom. She quietly began to hum a soft tune to herself, when she then lay eyes on someone she had wished she had the privilege avoid further.

Raphael was descending the staircase slowly as Valerie was climbing it. She unknowingly came to a halt, and stared at him through her wide black eyes.

The circles under her ex's eyes looked darker than normal, and his paper white skin seemed strangely opaque and lusterless. His face was like stone, completely frozen in a unemotional expression; All expect amber his eyes, which proved to her to be difficult to look directly into.

She looked nervously to the floor as he stopped as well. Somehow, the rage didn't boil back up like Valerie assumed it would. In fact, the feelings that his stoic presence invoked into her was something close to anxiety... or fear.

They were paused for what seemed like an eternity, people were passing by them on the staircase, but she didn't noticed at all. At the moment, Valerie valiantly trying not to meet Raphael's eyes, which were burning into her relentlessly. Apparently, the more Raphael had time to brood about being dumped, the more frightening his disappointment came. Valerie almost was beginning to feel guilty...

She felt him sweep past her at last, ever so lightly grazing her shoulder with his. She bit her lip, fighting back tears that momentarily threatened her eyes, and persisted onward. _I can't let Raphael see me cry. I won't allow it..._

XXX

Transfiguration that day was exactly how she expected it to be. Unpleasantly confusing, naturally. She loved going to that class, but loathed it at the same time. First off, Valerie was beginning to love the company of Joel Hampton. He was witty, funny, handsome, and very talented. She couldn't believe how one boy could be so close to being perfect. It seemed almost unfair. And this unfairity fueled the loathing sensation she would feel. She hated how she was suffering the same doom of many girls around her, inevitably falling hard for him... She couldn't. She just couldn't. And worst of all he probably didn't even notice Valerie's change in heart for him, or care for that matter. She knew he sought her company out above other girls (even his own girlfriends) in the past, but who's to say he doesn't do that with other girls too? Joel was probably so used to girls swooning for him, that he just took it all for granted!

She grinded her teeth in frustration at the thought. She was well aware of the intense, and blossoming feelings she had for Joel Hampton, but at the same rate Valerie knew she couldn't just shrug off what was sure to be reality.

She wouldn't give him back his scarf. Not in the condition it had been reduced to. It would only invoke questions that needed not to be asked. Instead, she tried her hardest to keep her attention on her work, avoiding to talk to him at all.

Every time he moved she couldn't help but look. Even if he was yawning. _Oh god... Stop it, Valerie! Stop!_

Joel somehow understood that yet again Valerie was in no mood to converse, so he decided to keep to himself. She had finished the class work well before him, and was already turning her plates into sophisticated looking vases. He tried to at least give her a smile, but was ultimately ignored.

Professor Vlamer tried to stand behind his desk. His large beer belly hit the edge of the table, and caused the clutter of items and papers that littered it to knock over and coming crashing to the floor. Turning pink for a quick second, he flicked his wand to the left quickly. Everything began to find it's original place on the table, and he started to speak. "Ahem... Alright, students of mine! You have all behaved very very well for the majority of the semester, and I must admit that this year's sixth years are among the most pleasant I've ever had the opportunity to teach! As you know, I shall allow you all to pick your own partners to be paired with for the remainder of the semester! How exciting for you all, yes?"

Valerie heard a loud whoop from some boy, as students around the classroom broke out into large smiles and laughter. Everyone was exchanging glances with who they had already matched up with, but Valerie kept her eyes on Vlamer. She knew that if she looked at Joel she would be disappointed, no matter what the outcome.

"Next class period, I shall allow you all to pick your own pair tables! You are dismissed!"

Valerie began to pack her things as she heard everyone standing and shuffling from their seats excitedly. She heard the chair next to her screech as Joel stood, picking up his bag in habit as he did so. She then heard a squealy voice she had to take a minute to recognize.

"Hey Joel!" Ashley Fowley bounced down the aisle of the classroom and up to Joel happily. Her long french braid swinging behind her like a pendulum. She was taller than Valerie, but her voice was annoyingly high-pitched and squeaky. Her skin was tan, which was becoming more rare as the winter months set in. The yellow tie underneath her sweater told that she was indeed in Hufflepuff. Ashley stared up at Joel through hopeful eyes and said, "I was wondering if you'd like to be my partner? I mean-I didn't see you partner up with anybody else, and Amanda already partnered up with Kelly, and Tanner's with Michael, so I don't have anyone either!" She gave a rapid, nervous giggle after she finished her sentence. _Eww... Who let the chipmunk out of it's cage?_

Valerie expression hardened as she felt an unpleasant, almost sinking sensation in her stomach. She stubbornly refused to associate the feeling with full fledged jealously (Which is exactly what it was) She tried desperately to ponder other things... but nothing came to mind. All she could focus on was what was unfolding next to her, and from what Valerie observed she could easily say that Ashley Fowley was completely bull shitting Joel! It was so bluntly obvious that she was working up the courage the whole damn class period, or semester for that matter, to ask Joel a single question. _That stupid girl probably stalks Joel's every move._ Valerie rolled her eyes, as she put the last of her things away in her bag, still listening intently.

It was hard to tell how Joel felt about Ashley asking him to partner up. "Well-" he began, looking down at Valerie diplomatically, who seemingly "wasn't" paying any attention. He looked slightly troubled as he scratched his head, turning his own attention back to Ashley. Valerie knew all to well that the pause meant he was weighing the decision.

Ashley glanced from Valerie to Joel, her mouth slightly ajar, her anticipation was clear.

"...I've already partnered up with someone." He said at last, and Ashley's expression told that instantly fell from cloud nine down to planet earth.

Her face contorted slightly, and she shook her head as she said, "B-But with who? I-I thought-"

"I'm really sorry, Amber-I mean Ashley." Joel laughed very briefly at his mistake, but Ashley didn't seem to notice the name switch-a-roo over being rejected. Her eyes were still huge, and she still appeared as if someone had slapped her in the face. Joel gave her an apologetic smile that probably made poor ol' Ashley even weaker in the knees. Her silly little crush for him was painfully beyond obvious. "Maybe next time?"

Before Ashley could open her mouth again, Joel turned and walked away without another word, leaving Ashley crushed, dumbfounded, and defeated. She glared at Valerie accusingly, "Who did he partner up with?!" Her voice squeaked even higher to a new level of irritation

Valerie smirked and stood, clutching the strap of her bag almost victoriously. Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest. "How should I know?" Valerie returned smoothly, before gliding away.


	9. Christmas

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Christmas

XXX

Not being allowed to participate in the last few games of the season was tearing Valerie apart. She thought it was cruel punishment, being forced to watch her team zoom around the pitch without her. Valerie still loyally made an appearance at every game and practice, basically to give her team the little moral support they needed. Still, Slytherin had lost to Ravenclaw... Again, but by a slimmer margin this time. Slytherin luckily stood second in the league by the last game, which was pretty good. Valerie's temporary replacement Chaser, Heath Kingston, was absolutely dreadful. It was all up to Quincy and Reggie for shooting the goals, she assumed, because Heath barely looked like he even knew how to mount a broomstick. Not to mention he was afraid to get in the fray of things, for fear of falling off much like Valerie did. She knew Julius was beginning to ponder a replacement for the replacement. Other than that, Slytherin's replacement beaters, Carlisle Redmond and Donovan Wells, were actually an upgrade from Joseph and Chester. (Chester quit after Jospeh got the boot) They cared more about tactics, and worked together very well. Valerie thought it was refreshing to see Slytherin being graced with the presence of well behaved beaters.

Valerie knew she couldn't wait until after the Christmas holidays. That was when Julius promised her that she would be allowed to return to the team. She began a countdown of days in her head.

Meanwhile, Valerie had been trying to fill in her spare time with other things. She spent a lot of time hanging out with Quincy, Reggie, Maggie and Julius on the weekends. They all kept her posted on what was happening with the team. Also, she still frequently attended the morning study group she had joined a while back, which had gained a few more members since then. Her, Daniel, and June were starting to become very good friends, to the point where June had invited them each to her home for a portion of the holiday. Daniel seemed extremely excited, and told June he would certainly ask his mother, but Valerie had to politely decline. Father would cut off her head for even mentioning something like that to him. Valerie had even become slightly acquainted with some of the new people. The ones she refused to associate herself with, though, were Ashley Fowley and her equally annoying friend. Ashley and friend always sat as close to Joel as they could, because Valerie always made sure of taking the seat to the left of Joel, and letting Daniel have the one of the right of him. Ashley didn't even contribute to the studying, because her and Amanda just giggled and stared the whole time. Joel cooly pretended like he didn't notice the fawning and swooning before him, and Valerie was about to snap at them once, but decided against it. She had shown enough anger to the people around her already, with the break-up and the fight in mind.

Something very curious to Valerie was that she had been seeing less and less of Rachel Durko, Joel's girlfriend. This was great and all, but she couldn't imagine what could be happening between the two. Joel had never even mentioned Rachel to Valerie before, not even once. This was slightly upsetting, maybe he had a reason to hide it from her. Even when Joel and Valerie met privately on occasion at the same spot they had the first time, underneath the wonky maple tree, he still hadn't uttered a word about her.

On the day before everyone would head home for the Christmas holidays, Valerie planned to fix this dilemma.

Valerie walked over to the leave less tree and scraped the piled up snow off of the ancient bench below it. She sat down with a large sigh, watching her breath wisp and billow before her in the cold air. _And now, I wait._

It didn't take very long at all, for her Transfiguration partner/guilty pleasure love interest to arrive. He was dressed very warmly, much like Valerie was. She learned her lesson about forgetting to bundle up last time. Today Joel wore a gray beanie, which hid all his hair but his sideburns. Valerie smiled a very dimpled smile, he really was a hat person.

"Hey Val, what's got you so happy?" he asked curiously, as he sat down on the bench. She instantly noted that his demeanor was off, but she couldn't point out exactly what it was. She also noted how he trained himself well to always sit so close to her that their arms and shoulders touched, and Valerie didn't mind at all.

She giggled and shook her head, "Nothing really, just noticing your sideburns."

He lifted a hand to his own face and stroked the patch of hair on the side of his face that was as long as his ear. He half-heartedly laughed, "I know, it's kind of hard not to admire them, isn't it?"

She laughed, and they had a long discussion about music, among other things, before Valerie knew she had to get around to asking him the question that was on her mind. She had to think of exactly the right means of doing it, because she could come off sounding desperate or rather mean.

Valerie stared down at Joel's feet as he mindlessly flattened all the snow within his leg span. With a meek smile, Valerie came to what she thought was the perfect way in which to ask Joel, or to at least get him talking. And lucky enough for Valerie, they were still on the subject of Valerie's suspension from the Quidditch team.

"Yeah, I can't wait to start back up in spring. Rachel much be really happy that you guys are in the lead, huh?"

Hearing her name almost instantly made Joel scowl. Valerie didn't expect a reaction like that, nor did she intend to make his mood change so drastically.

This was probably the first time she had ever even seen him look upset... His eyes darkened, and his brows lowered into a troubled expression. When he didn't say anything for a few seconds, Valerie could only think of one thing to say.

"...What happened?"

Joel's lips were now taut, and he still didn't look over at Valerie, which stung a little bit.

She blinked hard, shoving off her feeling of being insulted by his refusal to answer. _What could have happened to make Joel so pissed?_ She then recalled the very unpleasant break-up with Raphael, which turned her into an unhappy camper. Empathy and understanding suddenly flooded her feelings as she came to the realization.

"You aren't together anymore... Are you?"

Joel shook his head ever so slightly, and Valerie's eyes widened as her heart began to bound in her chest from excitement yet again. _Wait, I shouldn't feel happy about this. For one, it clearly ticked off poor Joel, and secondly... It's not like I have the means to date him._

The upsetting silence persisted, but Valerie softened her gaze into a look that was almost solemn. She reached out a hand, and touched his arm lightly. She watched as he turned his head slowly, looking down at her. His emotion was unchanged, and his expression was unmoved. She knew she had to try harder, so she sidled even closer to his body, and then lay her head gently on his broad shoulder. Of course, she broke the pointless eye contact with him, and instead watched the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed steadily. This was probably the most sympathy she's ever shown for someone, and she actually meant it. The warmth Valerie recieved from laying against Joel's body was pleasing, although she still felt very uncomfortable with the silence.

She lifted her tiny hand to his coat and gripped it weakly. Joel's scent of vague cinnamon was stronger now that she was closing, and oh was it addicting. She greatly relished being so close to him, but was still patiently waiting for him to say something...

"I...I had no idea what was happening at first... But then I realized, Rachel used Legilimency on me..." Joel finally muttered. His normally smooth voice actually broke and quaked for once.

Valerie kept her head on his shoulder, and she frowned instantly, narrowing her eyes in disbelief. "But she's a student. They don't teach Legilimency at Hogwarts, they're not allowed to-at least not to my-"

"Her father is an Auror. He probably taught her off request or something ridiculous like that." he replied, his voice now sounded like it had been sapped of all energy.

Valerie looked shocked. _No way... What kind of suspicion would be so bad that Rachel would resort to using illegally practiced Legilimency on Joel? .... And how low can that stupid bitch get, to actually invade on her own boyfriends mind? _

She exhaled softly, and wrapped her whole arm completely around him to comfort Joel further, and it seemed to be working well. She almost wasn't cold anymore, despite the amount of snow that surrounded them.

"I'm sorry, Valerie.. I really didn't want to trouble you with all of this... I tried not to think about it, it happened like a week ago, but you... you brought her up-"

"I know. I'm very glad you told me, Joel. I always like listening to what you have to say." She whispered, as she moved her head even closer to the center of his chest. She pressed her ear against it, and she could very faintly hear the very muffled sound of Joel's heartbeat.

"...She left Hogwarts... Apparently, she was so disgusted by what she saw in my thoughts, that she found no need to stay for the remainder of her last year..." He watched affectionately as Valerie lay against him. When he spoke, his voice rumbled against the side of her face that was pressed against his body.

"Good... She won't be prying into your private thoughts anymore." Valerie said quietly, and closed her eyes because she was becoming quite relaxed. She was still listening to the peaceful drum of his heart.

She felt Joel gently stroke her shoulder with his warm hand, and her heart raced even faster. Her whole body was overwhelmed with an intense, warm, and very tingly feeling.

"She saw you..."

XXX

That was the last time Valerie got to see Joel before her departure early the next day. Sure, they were both going on the same train to the same station, but there was no way she could be caught with him in public. Her heart sped up every time she saw a tall figure with brown hair, but it was always a let down. She knew she had fallen hard when her mind told her that nearly everyone she saw was Mr. Heart-Throb Hampton.

And she dreaded every second that the train pulled her farther and farther away from the magical castle. She dreaded having to go to a hallow home, with a loosely-knit family and tons of drama. She curled up on the comfortable green seats in a cabin with Quincy, Reggie, and Julius, as usual. Valerie tried to find sleep, but it evaded her relentlessly. Her mind was too active, too full of conflicting and often hurtful thoughts. And to think, Joel, her only means of releasing this built up emotion, would be stripped of her for two weeks. It may not sound long, but to Valerie it sounded like ages.

She assumed sleep had blessed her, because she opened her eyes to Reggie prodding her arm. "Valerie, we're here." He said.

Valerie sat up slowly and stretched. Only one good thing came out of all of this, and it was how she could now dress as she pleased. Today, she sported a figure-flattering green turtle-neck and dark blue denim skinny jeans. It was probably one of her favorite outfits.

She exited the train and grabbed her trunk from the unloading station near the end of the platform, and set off looking for the rest of her family. She shivered, cursing herself for stupidly forgetting not bring out a jacket in winter. She obviously was really bad at remembering to bundle up.

Among the cheery greetings, warm hugs, and all around holiday bliss, she spotted a group of people who looked still and stark. It was the Rinaldo family, of course.

Vincent Rinaldo Sr. was definitely not very tall, but still managed to look like a complete pompous, uppity jerk wad. His belly was rather large, and his outfit was probably more expensive that most people's entire wardrobe. His pitch black goatee was very very cleanly shaven to perfection, and his eyebrows looked as though they had been tweezed. His eyes were the same as Valerie's, and most of her siblings, large, black, and generally very easily read. His head was held high as his children surrounded him, and he lay eyes on Valerie for a split second, not even smiling, before looking elsewhere.

Salvia Rinaldo, Valerie's mother, was a very sickly looking woman. Her hair was waist length, dark brown, but pin-straight and brittle looking. Her eyes were dull and dreary, and her skin was pale and malnourished looking. Her lips almost matched the color of her skin, and her arms were crossed lazily. She was a extremely beautiful woman in her prime, but apparently the higher you rise, the harder you fall.

Vinnie Jr. held pudgy Enrico, his son, and Vincent's first grandchild, in his thick arms. He was a broad built boy, and greatly resembled his namesake. His little wife stood next to him, her eyes glued to the stationary Hogwarts express. Augusto, her second oldest brother, was not there. He was the one who was probably waiting for them at the estate.

Of course, Cassa, Joseph, and Natalia Rinaldo were already crowding around their unenergetic family. Cassa seemed to already have told the tale of Valerie's extreme behavior to their father, which probably explained why she did not receive a greeting at all. Joseph stared at Valerie as she approached with a kind of unintimidating and just plain ridiculous looking hatred. Natalia, much like her mother, was just present. She never talked much, and she too looked rather sickly.

"Alright, Valerie's here." Salvia croaked, in her smoker's voice. "Let's go."

No one else had acknowledged Valerie aside Natalia, who smiled at her older sister meekly. Valerie smiled back. Natalia had always been her favorite sibling.

XXX

For Christmas Eve and even Christmas day, Valerie spent most of her time laying on her king sized, lavish bed inside the gaudy, giant mansion she had the privilege to call "home". If that's what you want to call a privilege.

Eventually, she would pull out Joel's scarf and just stare at it. Her mind would trick her. One second, she would daydream about how she wanted nothing more than to be next to him. The next, she would be cursing herself for falling for someone she knew she couldn't have. Someone who was also well liked by many, and also had many wondering if he was loyal to any one girl. She inhaled the fading smell, bit her lip, and shoved it back under her bed as someone knocked on her door.

Rolling her eyes, she sat up on the squishy bed, "What do you want?" she called bitterly, staring daggers at the door.

It creaked open slowly, and Valerie changed her rough attitude to happiness as she saw Rosemary, the maid, take one tiny step in to look at Valerie. You would think that if you were a witch or wizard, you could clean your own house easily. Not the Rinaldo's. The Rinaldo's were too damn rich and proud to be seen doing "common folk work" as her father referred to it. That was Rosemary's purpose.

Rosemary was a plump woman, who always wore a white apron decorated by cutesy patches, and had a head full of curly, copper colored hair. "I'm so sorry to disturb you, dearest." She said oh so politely.

"It's alright, Rosemary!" Valerie called happily from the other side of her room. "I thought you were someone else!"

"Oh okay!" Rosemary stepped in, laughing merrily. She brushed off her apron like something had gotten on it, and said, "Any who, your father wants to see you in his study, Ms. Valerie."

Valerie crawled over to the side of her bed and slipped off it to the floor. "Great." she said as she rolled her eyes again. Rosemary laughed at this, and Valerie nodded to her, "Thanks for the message."

Valerie stepped out of her room, followed by Rosemary, and made her way across the marble floors, past the expensive antique furniture, portraits, statues, you name it, and eventually arrived at her father's study on the opposite side of the massive building. She cleared her throat and knocked lightly twice.

"Come in."

Valerie opened the door almost as slowly as Rosemary had, and stepped into the room quietly. It was rather dim, a fire crackled in the fireplace, and portraits of her various pure-blooded ancestors stared down at her with disgust in their old, beady eyes. Her father sat in a chair with a huge headrest, staring directly at her behind a large table. He held a cigar in one ringed had, but nothing in the other.

Valerie subtly coughed at the intense smell and haze from the cigar, and her father gave her a slight frown of disapproval.

"Come and sit in front of me, Lucille." It wasn't good that he had just called her by her middle name. It meant that he was so upset that he believed she deserved not to be called by her first.

Valerie obeyed, taking her time despite her father. She sat in the much smaller chair on the opposite side of her father, and stared at him blankly. She knew not to talk before she was asked a question...

"Have you apologized to Cassandra for your animalistic behavior towards her?" his voice was groggy and irritating.

"No..." She received vicious look from Vincent, "I mean-no sir."

He let himself sink deeper in the cushions of his huge chair, and puffed his cigar in thought, examining his fourth born with judgmental black eyes. "You will."

"Yes, sir."

"Have you apologized to Joseph for directly getting him thrown off of Slytherin's Quidditch team, in what was perhaps some twisted scheme of yours?"

Valerie was becoming more livid by the second. These false accusations of her actions were insulting and demeaning. And the way he had her "repent" for them was not much better. "No... Sir..."

"You will."

She grimaced, and gripped the arm rests of her chair in precaution to her lashing out.

Vincent carefully put down his smoldering cigar in a tiny round tray upon his desk, and stood. He cracked each of his fingers, almost all of which had a giant golden ring on them. He paced around the table, and walked right up to Valerie who still had a death grip on her arm rests.

"Will you admit to me now, Lucille, that you are a budding blood-traitor that needs to be punished?"

_WHAT THE HELL?! Who told father something like that?!_ She thought she had covered her tracks up, she thought she had been discrete!

She took in a deep breath, trying to squelch her fury. She glared up to her father, who loomed over her like Joseph did only a few weeks ago. This was out of hand. this was unacceptable.

"Father, I am no blood traitor."

"Lies." he seethed coldly through his teeth. Many of the portraits broke out into ugly remarks about Valerie at that instant, but Vincent rose one hand to quiet them immediately. "The evidence is incriminating. You have openly split up with Raphael Settino, a well respected blood loyalist. Also, I heard from your siblings that you sported a Ravenclaw scarf when you paraded into the common room late one night. Do not try to fool me, Lucille, it's impossible."

Valerie sat there, refusing to look at her father, and also refusing to reply to him.

"Admit it!" He shouted suddenly, his voice so loud that it caused her to jump slightly.

"I won't."

In a flash she felt a great deal of pain as her head whip harshly to the left. Her father had slapped with all his might, and with all his rings.

Her cheek and whole entire mouth was numb, her neck was pained and blood began to build up at the corner of her lip. She quivered, and glared back up at him, not even raising her own hand to her fresh wound.

"From this point onward, Raphael Settino is your fiancé. There is nothing you can do about it, the arrangement has already been made. Generally, us Rinaldo's do not feel the need to arrange marriages because we believe we are smart enough to stay within our own kind. But for family members who are unfortunate not to have a good head on their shoulders, shall have their life played out for them. Don't blame me, Lucille. This is the lifestyle you have selected, and it's my job to make sure you see it through." He took out his wand, and flicked it so a old wooden drawer on the far side of his room opened. Out of the drawer came a pure golden ring, adorned with what seemed to be a single glittering diamond in the middle.

"You must wear this at all times. Unfortunately, Raphael couldn't put it on you himself, but in the given circumstances I'm sure the boy understands. If I ever see you with it off, the consequences will be... severe." He let the ring drop in Valerie's lap. She looked down at the expensive ring like it was offending or vulgar. Suddenly, she felt her jaw being gripped very tightly by a fat hand, and her face had been jerked to look straight into her fathers. "Do... you... understand... me?" He asked her, his face only inches from hers, his grip growing stronger.

Valerie felt the blood begin to trickle down her mouth and onto her father hand. "........_Yes_." she whispered so quietly a mouse couldn't possibly have heard it.

But Vincent Rinaldo did, and he let go of his daughter roughly, shaking the blood of his hand before stepping out of the room, looking rather pleased and accomplished.

When she heard the door close, Valerie fell to the floor and began to cry.


	10. Inevitability

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Inevitability

XXX

Valerie somehow managed to hold on to sanity after her father had shown her blatant physical abuse in his private study. She covered the large, rather swelled with her best concealers in her make-up collection, and told whomever asked, (Rosemary and Natalia) that the blood was a result of her biting her lip too hard accidently. Lying through her teeth to her sister and the maid was probably the hardest thing she believed she had to do in a while. Telling the ugly truth would be so much more easy, but the result would certainly be grim for Valerie.

As a final consequential blow to the already withered Valerie, Vincent invited Raphael and his Uncle Carlo over to their estate. Valerie knew Raphael had lost both of his parents young, so his Uncle was his guardian. Valerie's father told her that if she didn't make an attempt to patch things up with Raphael, that he would force her to drop out of school and to become a recluse in her own home. Frightened by the thought of not returning to one of the only places on earth that made her happy, or not returning to one of the only people on earth that made her happy, she bitterly agreed to the task. Her father was a controlling man, who she loathed so much more each day. Violent thoughts entered her mind when she was in the same room as him, all she wanted to do was to whip out her wand and blow the poor excuse for a parent to pieces...

Curled up in her bed, yet again, Valerie clung to Joel's scarf for some degree of comfort. She breathed in sharply, feeling her throat go dry, which was the first step to crying. She was devastated by the recent events that had been taking place in her life. One moment, she's beginning to fall for a handsome boy, unfortunately born to a muggle family, and who seemed to be returning the feeling generously. The next, a large, gaudy, expensive ring adorned her left ring finger, a sign of the forced marital bond she would have to share with the boy she formerly loved for the rest of her life. She taught herself to fight back the feeling of tears, especially since she wore lovely dark brown eyeshadow and makeup that night. Tears would surely ruin it. She was dressed nicely for the occasion, A beautiful, cinched, silky golden dress adorned her short but slender body. She wore a necklace of black freshwater pearls around her neck, and beside her bed were the black heels that she would slip on when she was called for. She didn't care if the romantic curls in her hair were being smashed by the weight of her head against her pillow, because all that was on her mind was the pitiful state she was in emotionally. She never wished for any of this. She never wanted it all to happen this way. But she was in too deep now...

She heard a gentle knock at her door, she shoved the scarf routinely to it's place under the bed and sat up lazily. She crawled to the edge of the massive bed and drew herself to good posture. She smoothed her dress that fell her knees, and stepped over to her shoes, which she slipped into promptly.

"Yes?" Valerie called, but her voice had lost lots of it's normal radiance and confidence.

"It's me, Ms. Valerie!" Rosemary called back into the door, and she creaked it open to take a peek at Valerie as she paced over to the entrance of the room. "My, you look wonderful!" Rosemary exclaimed, clapping her hands together in glee. Rosemary was dressed in a plain, modest dark green dress for the occasion, which was very different from her normal attire. Apparently, everyone in the Rinaldo household had to look dashing for the guest that Valerie could wait one thousand years to see.

"Thank you." she replied softly, not meeting Rosemary's gaze.

Rosemary looked worried by Valerie's mood, "Are you alright, honey?"

Valerie nodded half-heartedly, brushing some of her long black curls from her shoulder. "I'm fine... Don't worry."

Rosemary, who was still clearly unconvinced, continued to gaze at Valerie the way a worried mother would. "Alright, then, deary. The Settino's have arrived, and your father has sent for me to get you."

Valerie sighed, finally meeting Rosemary's very concerned, coffee colored eyes, and tried to smile, but failed. "Thank you." she said calmly, walking out of her room and past her maid without another word.

XXX

During dinner in the lavish dining room, Valerie had been incredibly quite. She only replied with yes'es and no's when she was asked a question by anyone. The whole thing seemed so unreal to, that she almost felt as if she were in a horrible nightmare of sorts. She was strategically forced to sit next to her Raphael, her ex-boyfriend, who she still couldn't bring herself to think of as fiancé, but non the less wore a golden band around his own finger. She refused to look at him, for if she did, she was sure to feel queasy. Raphael didn't look at her either, because he was in a deep conversation with Mr. Rinaldo and Carlo Settino. Cassa looked at Raphael through admiring eyes, and Joseph tried to butt in on the men's conversation quite frequently, apparently feeling left out. The other Rinaldo's seemed rather quiet until Vinne Jr. and his wife proudly discussed the son Enrico with Carlo, who was thoroughly impressed. As soon as everyone seemed to have finished the desert course that had magically floated to their plates, Valerie asked her mother to be excused. Valerie tried to explain how she was feeling under the weather, and after a drawn out pause, her pale mother slowly nodded, keeping her dull eyes glued the table listlessly.

Valerie tried to hurry up the stairs as quickly as she could, bent on returning to the safe haven on her own room. Her heels clicked loudly as she did so, and she hoped that the people still dining did not hear her hurrying. She had made it half way up the winding stairs, when she heard footsteps pursuing her.

What she thought was sure to be her crazy father, coming over to reprimand Valerie and send her back to be social among the important guests, turned out to not be him at all.

Standing there, in a sharp looking black suit, appearing quite suave with his dark combed back hair, stood Raphael. His complexion had more color than the time they had last met eyes, but still looked very white and sallow. He stopped when Valerie rounded on him, looking up at her with an unreadable expression.

Valerie glared down at Raphael, and clenched the hand-rail tightly. She turned her head to the side dramatically, refusing to let him sway her with his mysterious eyes. "What do you want?" she asked loudly, the edge in her voice sounded like it could probably but diamonds.

Raphael stepped further up towards Valerie cautiously, lowering his eyes to the steps beneath them. Valerie dared to take a quick look at him, and discovered that he actually appeared to be quite pained.

"I know you think I'm a fool, Valerie." Raphael's voice was deeper now that he had reduced it to almost a whisper. The sexy, husky voice she used to love listening to her now sickened her to the core. He also looked to the side, biting his pale lip with his pearly teeth. Valerie assumed he was trying to find the right words to say, and she would surely let him know if he picked poorly. "-And it's true. I am a fool. I'm so sorry for the way I treated you in the past..." His words came slowly and sounded deeply remorseful.

Valerie laughed sarcastically despite his genuine apology. Her disregard for the seriousness of the issue showed just how angry she had become in the past few weeks of torture. "And you think convincing my father to force me to marry you would make things all peachy-keen and dandy?" she snarled, her eyes now blazing into Raphael.

He shook his head slowly, and Valerie rose a delicate eyebrow, her expression told she was still quite infuriated. "I didn't force anything..." he rasped, finally looking into Valerie's eyes. The normal stoic and mystery to them had vanished, making room for the most honest look she had received in her life. Instantly she felt a wave of confusion, and she crossed her arms to show she needed further explanation. Raphael stepped even closer to her, which Valerie was about to object to, before he said, "I had nothing to do with it at all. I mean it whole-heartedly."

There was a tiny pause, and she heard the faint conversations and laughs echo softly from the dining room. She blinked a couple of times, her cheeks still red from her rage, and looked down her the ring on her finger. _It was all father then, wasn't it? I should have realized Raphael wouldn't do something quite so atrocious to me..._

She gulped silently, and looked into his intense amber eyes yet again. They were something that used to give her a surge of excitement and desire was now subdued, but proved not to be sickening anymore in light of the truth. She took in a shaky breath, and felt her eyes burn yet again. Her heart pounded with greif and regret. Knowing that Raphael was not behind it was somewhat relieving, but the whole ordeal of engagement was still extremely cruel, stressful, and flat out unfair to her. Her freedom to love anyone of her own choosing had been stripped from her. Her freedom to love the boy she learned she desired for was now out the window... And she assumed her feelings for him eventually had to follow suit. The thought made her noticeably tremble in devastation.

"Do you forgive me... Valerie?" She heard Raphael's words but didn't really comprehend them. Suddenly, her knees buckled and she collapsed to the stair that she stood on, her body now trembling terribly. She covered her face with her dainty hands and began to relentlessly sob into them, her despair quite evident to Raphael. His eyes widened in alarm, and he almost instantly knelt down to sit on the same stair beside her, wrapping his right arm tightly around her little shoulders. She smelt his luring cologne as he hugged her now, but it wasn't the same feeling she was used to. Nothing was the same. And nothing would ever be the same. Valerie Rinaldo, futurely Mrs. Valerie Settino, was stuck with a boy she used to love, and that was that.

As Raphael tried his hardest to comfort Valerie, all she could think about was Joel. All the happy and humbling moments that they shared privately meant nothing anymore. His pleasantly warm touch was something she had to forget, to be replaced with the cold skin of her young fiance. Raphael hugged her tighter still, which didn't help her situation at all. After a few minutes of her releasing her built up sorrow, she removed her hands from her face to see the ugly blotches of black mascara that welled inside her palms. She bent her head lower, to hide her face with her bouncy curls, but Raphael gently swept them out of the way in defiance of her embarrassment. He laced one of his cold, pale hands with her's and helped her to her feet. Valerie was too devastated and sapped of energy to refuse being led up the stairs by her fiance. He lead her over to a door which Valerie knew to be a bathroom. It was clear that Raphael still knew his way around the Rinaldo house, due to his visits in the past. He unbuttoned all three of the buttons on his jacket and removed it, revealing his white button up and tie which were beneath it. He rolled up his sleeves quickly and effortlessly as he looked at Valerie through deeply concerned, but yet caring eyes. Grabbing a pristinely white towel, he wet it in the sink and paced back over to her. He stood in front of her awkwardly at first, summing up the courage, and then began to very gently blot out the make-up that had run down her puffy porcelain cheeks. Ever so slightly charmed by his attempt at affection, Valerie lightly grabbed his hand to stop him. Looking a little appreciative, she gave him a ghostly smile, taking the towel from his cold hands. "Thank you, Raphael." she managed to say quietly, "-But I got it." As she began to dab her face, Raphael gave a understanding nod.

He stood there and watched her completely take off all of her evening make-up, place the dirty towel on the marble counter, and turn to him once again. He tried to smile, but he still looked rather battered by the condition he had just seen his wife-to-be in. Raphael also noticed the large purple-ish splotch that had revealed itself on Valerie's cheek, and gave her an inquisitive look which she wove off nonchalantly. Looking down at her large ring yet again, Valerie got a sense that this was all inevitable, and she reluctantly walked towards Raphael's body and wrapped her arms around his waist loosely, burrowing her now clean face into his chest. After a few seconds, he lifted her chin up with his hand and looked her directly in the face. "You look so much better without make-up, anyway, Valerie," he whispered sensually, and bent down to kiss her lightly on her full, pink lips. She shivered, but Raphael didn't detect it, so Valerie held the kiss. She felt no strange tingly sensation, no spark of desire, just obligation to please the man she would have to call her husband.


End file.
